ABOUT a week ago, we marked the first anniversary of the movement control order being enforced in Malaysia. Over the past year of the pandemic, one of the most frequent messages we have heard is to regularly wash our hands. 

By and large, our country has been blessed with abundant water supply thanks to plenty of rainfall. However, within Malaysia, there are places that lack access to clean water. The frequent water cuts in the Klang Valley over the last few years due to dumping of industrial waste into rivers have also caused many disruptions

It is estimated that over two billion of the world population live in countries with high water stress. Realising the need for unified global actions, the UN sustainable development goals, which were launched in 2015, have included this issue in Goal 6 with the theme, Clean Water and Sanitation for All.  Engineers have also taken this global issue in stride making “provide an access to clean water” one of the 14 National Academy of Engineers’ grand challenges in the 21st century. This has allowed for a focused approach to develop solutions that will enable for clean water access in nations with high water stress. 

The Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry in January identified food and water security as one of the grand challenges facing the country. Concurrently, within the 10-10 Malaysian Science, Technology Innovation and Economy Framework recently launched by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM), water and food were identified as among the 10 social-economy drivers. 

Last December, UN-Water held its 31st Special Session of the General Assembly in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The body reiterated the urgent need for access to clean water and soap to ensure that the world population is able to come out of this pandemic safely as water is the first line of defence in a pandemic. However, about three billion people in the world are lacking basic handwashing facilities at home and better water and sanitation systems must be built in order for nations to be safeguarded from being susceptible to other pandemics in the future. Countries need to establish efficient water management systems to address water scarcity and food insecurity issues. 

During the session, the Global Acceleration Framework was launched in order to align efforts, optimise financing and transform capacity and governance to ensure that access to clean water is available to the people of the world. This will help meet some of the goals in the UN SDG 6 by 2030, such as improving  water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally; substantially increasing water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensuring sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity; and implementing integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate. 

Within the context of Malaysia, we have been taking steps to address this issue. The National Integrated Water Resources Management Plan published by ASM in 2016 serves as a good guide for transforming the water sector in the country.  It outlines various strategies and plans to be taken at the state and national levels. Its important recommendations include the formalisation of governing policies to ensure balanced development in meeting water, food, and energy security targets and green growth through the application of the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle). It is worth noting the Water Sector Transformation (WST) 2040 project by the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department is at its halfway mark, and due to be completed by the end of this year. The National Agenda for WST 2040 aims to transform the national water sector so that water will be seen as a new economic sector that will boost national employment as well as forge Malaysia’s science, technology and innovation development and contribute to our gross domestic product. 

Besides the policymakers, each of us can play a part in addressing this global water issue. In 2019, statistics from the National Water Services Commission showed that consumption in peninsular Malaysia and Labuan has risen to 230 litres per capita per day, which is 40% higher than the UN benchmark of 165 litres per person every day. It has been reported that the avergae Malaysian wastes up to 50,000 litres of water yearly. We can reduce this simply by picking up daily habits such as reducing time in the shower, turning off the tap while brushing our teeth and checking the pipes and toilet for leaks.

This World Water Day, let us all take a moment to reflect on our water habits and improve our actions to ensure future generations have access to clean water, such as we have had the privilege of enjoying in the past year, which has allowed us to stay healthy. – March 22, 2021.

*Dr Dominic C. Y. Foo is a fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia.