SINGAPORE MUST BE LAUGHING: A water crisis of Malaysia's own making

After Kluang in Johor, three districts in Selangor have gone into water rationing, with the neighboring state of Negeri Sembilan a possible next.

The so-called water rationing means water supply to certain districts will be cut off on a rotational basis; for example Selangor will have tap water supply for two days followed by two days without water. The objective of water rationing is to keep water consumption low during the dry season before the rainy season arrives.

After learning of imminent water rationing in Selangor, many of my colleagues were shocked, but to people living in Balakong who have not had clean water supply for two weeks now, water rationing could be a blessing in disguise.

How could a country so generously gifted with abundant rainfall ever experience such an embarrassing water crisis?

I personally feel that this could be a consequence of the following three factors: attitude, mismanagement and political tussle.

Perhaps we should take cue from our neighbor Singapore which has very limited water resources if any. And because of water scarcity, the city state treasures every drop of its water. In addition to man-made lakes to hold freshwater and rainwater collection, Singapore also treats recycled water.

To the Singapore government, water is one vital prerequisite to ensure its sustained existence and as such, the country will do everything to save and store potable water.

By contrast, water has come way too easy and cheap for Malaysia that we have long surrendered our ability to appreciate and be grateful. No one would ever be bothered if our water pipes are leaking.

Such an attitude has resulted in our government not giving due attention to the management of our water resources as we have plenty of rainfall to make up for whatever loss we may experience.

In the past we used to boast an overwhelming forest coverage which could somewhat mitigate the effects of the occasional drought. Unfortunately our water catchment areas have been sacrificed in the name of development, our rivers narrowed and silted, and our dam water storage diminishing by the day.

Our government does not have laws to safeguard water catchment areas and bar development projects in ecologically sensitive areas.

We encourage building of more highrises and freeways as we race to showcase our economic achievements without taking into consideration their environmental impact. Without water, our modern residential towers will not function and our high-tech industries will be crippled.

The government should construct more dams and reservoirs to hold the rainwater, but in its stead we have allowed the rain water to drain away just like that over the years.

Our archaic water pipes have been left unrepaired for decades and this has given rise to leaking pipes and wastage of precious water, as highlighted by our unrealistically high non-revenue water ratio of 36.4%. Some 1,994 billion liters of water was lost in 2012. By comparison, the non-revenue water ratios of Japan and Singapore are only 3% and 5% respectively.

Restructuring of water supply is of utmost importance to ensure improved management efficiency. The water supply system in the country is currently not interconnected, and if the water level at a particular dam is low, there is no way for other dams to come to its rescue.

The production and distribution of potable water in Selangor are carried out by different companies and this has given rise to business conflicts and lack of regular maintenance of water supply infrastructure.

The water supply in Selangor should be restructured by the state government but because of political tussle, the state government has encountered a lot of obstacles in its acquisition bid.

As the latest water rationing exercise will involve Kajang, the water issue is anticipated to take a centerstage in the upcoming by-election as rival political camps point fingers at each other.

Floods, meanwhile, have also become an increasingly common phenomenon in the country in recent years, including the most severe flood in Kajang in 40 years in 2011.

The severe water shortage in southern Selangor could be blamed on overdevelopment and rapid increase in population and commercial activities owing to improper planning.

The current water crisis has exposed the problem of mismanagement on the part of our government, and the nation and her people will have to pay a very heavy price for such negligence. -Mysinchew