WORLD Water Day is celebrated every year on March 22nd. It marks the importance of water to human civilisation and the nature. 

This year’s World Water Day focuses on “Valuing Water”. 

Much has been said about water and whether we can put a price tag on it. While we may be blessed with an abundance of water in Malaysia, there are still many planning failures that cause water pollution, loss of catchment areas as well as frequent water supply disruptions. At the same time, we must also understand that due to globalisation, import and export of goods also involve import and export of water usage. It is vital to manage the entire cycle of the water sector. Every time there are changes in the administration, many groups with vested interests derail good plans that protect our water sector to benefit themselves. Will the public recognise the value of water and the need to protect it? Can government officers be trusted to protect the water sector?

Water for people

Treated water consumption in Malaysia is always on the rise. In 1981, Malaysia was producing 2,126 million litres per day (mld) of treated water and in 2017 we increased the production by almost eight times to 16,884mld. Almost 60% of the treated water goes to domestic consumers. In 2017, we are already serving 95.5% of our total population and 97.0% of our urban population. Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak need to boost their water supply infrastructure so that national water supply indicator can reach to the highest level. Clean and reliable water supply is important to ensure cleanliness and better sanitation.

Water for profit

According to the Department of Statistics, the agriculture sector contributed 7.1%, or RM101.5 billion to the gross domestic product in 2019. This includes palm oil, rubber, livestock, forestry and logging, fishing and other agriculture activities. Water is an essential parameter to ensure the agriculture sector is able to produce raw, semi-finished and finished goods for our consumption. We also import food. According to Bank Negara Malaysia, the imports (selected food items) have been increasing from RM43 billion in 2013 to RM54 billion in 2018. Food production relies highly of availability of water thus making water a contributing parameter for food. Water is also playing important role in economic sector that comprises manufacturing and services. These business sectors drive the economy and provide jobs. In 2019, services and manufacturing sectors contributed 79.9% to the economy.

Water for planet

While people and the economy needs water, the nature’s survival fully depends on water. Change in land-use for the past few decades have cause severe change in weather pattern that in return causes change in reliability in raw water supply as well as increased peat fire and flood incidents. Dry seasons are becoming much hotter and cause low flow of rivers to drop further. These are vicious cycle that will impact our raw water security and disaster preparedness. Many good and effective plans have been put forward to protect the water sector and the environment. Shrewd individuals are abusing the system and utilising the loopholes to further damage the environment for their benefit. Increase in problems related to environment is a good indicator we can observe to measure current state of affair. Similarly, a polluted river system also produces a polluted food chain. All the chemicals that are dumped legally and illegally into our waterways will eventually reach to our table as food. How do we put a price tag on water if we take into consideration the health of our children?

Restructuring the National Water Services Industry

NWSIR started in 2004 and led to the  amendment of the federal constitution and state enactments to give the federal government power over water treatment and supply in Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan. A restructuring process started on January 1, 2008 and was planned to complete by end of 2010. This plan is still delayed as some states are yet to restructure. Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) which is a clear example of a failed privatisation via concession agreement mounted debts that needed federal government’s bailout. Under NWSIR, IWK will be broken to state based entities and merged with state water operators to improve sustainability of water services sector. Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd (PAAB) which is formed under the Finance Ministry will source infrastructure funding from bond market. This entire process will be regulated by Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara (SPAN). Unfortunately, a good model but we recycled the human resource.

The ministry in charge of water and its agencies are plagued by incompetence. At the moment, there is an effort to break away from NWSIR. The suggestion to form a national water company is actually to protect IWK from following NWSIR. The failure to shutdown redundant agencies like Water Supply Department and Sewerage Services Department will continue the office politics legacy. We have seen in the past decade how senior officers after retirement sit in the boards of water companies. What is the price of failure to carry out NWSIR and replace it with a new policy that clearly benefits vested interest group? Is the federal government ready to face states that may challenge the federal government for breaking its promise made in the journey to reach NWSIR to the states and Conference of Rulers? Will the officials in the water ministry and its agencies be made responsible for the failures in the future? Vested interest group will seek a bailout after spending hundreds of billions of ringgit and can the government say no?

Foresightedness is vital when planning for the nation. We predicted the failure of vested interest policies when they were introduced. How does one tell the agencies that they are the termites of the nation? Policies must build our nation, protect our economy and deliver the best results for our people. That is the value you can leave for the future generations. Do not be a termite! – March 22, 2021.

* Piarapakaran S. is Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia president.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.