Wat-er Spin!

LETTER I have read Azman Ujang's column, "Off the Cuff" on "Untangling the politics of water" in The Sun (August 2).

I beg to differ with the arguments offered by Azman which, in my opinion, are ill-conceived and lack the depth of research. At best, his long and convoluted argument is just to politicize the water issue further and to apply pressure on the Selangor State Administration to grant a development order to proceed with the construction of the Langat 2 treatment plant.

Azman, after he has expressed his own view, if he cares, should listen to the other viewpoints without using his vantage position to rebut. A topic of this nature will have endless strings of arguments, but at the end of the day, may I suggest, it is not what, but whose project, is at stake.

Indeed, water is a natural resource and Malaysia is rich with this God-given natural resource. It is a blessing, until it is controlled and commoditized with a price tag - and it becomes life's most precious commodity. Where any commodity is monopolized by one or two parties, people do not care to provide plausible answers, as long as the water tariffs are raised every few years. At the end of the day, it is the consumer who has to fork out money to pay for this commodity.

After 54 years of Independence, if Malaysia is unable to meet the demand for water for its 27 million people, and Selangor with a population of just 5.1 million, it has to do with the way water is being managed. Raising the water tariff is definitely not the best way to control consumer behaviours. Rich people who can afford a higher tariff will continue to waste this basic necessity in life. It is the middle-income and lower-income groups, who have to fork out more money to upkeep a family.

Water conservation has to do with the way how consumer education is being taught in this country, something which FOMCA as a consumer organisation, should be more proactive and devote more of its time to carry out Save Water campaigns.

I just need to raise three pertinent points due to space constraints.

Wastages

Look at the wastages in your own homes. The water tap is turned on as you wash the dishes. I remember while studying and living in Australia, I learnt how the Australian families do their dishwashing. It was done out of two sinks of water, one to wash and the other for rinsing. Conservation of water was always on top of their minds.

Without going further, look at how many illegal car wash operators have sprung up over the past five years. Where do you think they get their water from? Besides damaging the roads where they operate, imagine the amount of water that they use to wash a car. Has the water utilities company taken drastic action against any of them? If not, why not?

What about all the Green initiatives that we are talking about as a nation?

We have plenty of rain water, but are we, as individuals, conscious enough that we are wasting away treated water when we could have harvested the rain water to flush our toilets?

Non-Revenue Water

Many of us have seen water pipes burst and tonnes of water gushing down into the public drain. We say "Wat-er waste!" but do nothing about! At least one or two still has the initiative to contact the water utilities, but when a complaint is lodged, how long before someone really attends to the complaint? My guess is as good as yours.

What about the amount of water that is being wasted through underground leakages, where you see water flowing out from beneath the road causing a pothole? The city council workers would just cover the pothole with tar, and in no time, the pothole reappears.

The organisation

Which organisation if, according to certain quarters, is RM2.9 billion in debt, can afford to pay an executive chairman RM5.1 million in director's fee/salary (according to the 2007 Punchak Niaga Holdings Berhad annual report) or hire an Executive Director of Corporate Affairs when a manager or at most a senior manager would do? In America, the CEO would have to take a pay cut or his head would have to roll if the company continues to underperform.

It is time that Syabas and Punchak Niaga look at restructuring its organisation before it seeks another tariff hike. The utilities company managing water cannot afford to continue to expect that consumers have to pay higher water tariff in order to keep the company afloat. If the company fails to deliver water at a competitive rate, there is no reason for the Government to pass on the burden to the consumers.

As far as I see it, as a corporate man, what the Menteri Besar of Selangor is seeking to do (and I take this opportunity to thank him for the first 20 cubic meter of free water), is to first put things in order with the water utilities, before talking about spending billions of Ringgit on the water tunnel from the state of Pahang. In my opinion, if any government of the day is able to manage all the three points above, Selangor would not have to face a water crisis.

- Stephen Ng is a reader of Malaysia Chronicle