The latest unscheduled water cut in Selangor affecting more than 370,000 users last Saturday is yet another in a string of water disruption and shortage incidents faced by the country in the past few years.
Earlier in September, Melaka and Johor also experienced water shortages throughout the states, with water levels at dams and treatment plants reaching dangerously low levels.
National Water Services Commission (Span) chairperson Charles Santiago pointed out that in 2018, Pahang recorded 449 cases of water treatment plant shutdowns while Selangor had 92 cases and Johor had 30.
Charles said such incidents reflected the urgency of the country's water issue.
He warned that Malaysia would be facing a full-blown water crisis within two years if concrete actions were not taken to address this matter immediately.
"We cannot take it lightly, we have to do something now.
"Otherwise, in two years, we will have a full-blown water crisis in the country and that is going to come back to haunt everybody; businesses, governments and households," he said to Malaysiakini today, after attending the Malaysia National Water Conference.
However, Charles said, the government, businesses and the public have not been taking the issue seriously enough.
"Households only take water seriously when there is a disconnection, and businesses don't take (water) recycling seriously.
"State governments also play football with water in terms of catchment areas.
"They are not being serious about managing water in their states, and I think if this thinking goes on, we will face a full-blown water crisis in the near future," he said.
Charles said the federal government needed to look at the water issue as a national security issue, and they needed to spend more money on water.
"For example, if I was the finance minister, next Friday I will say that those companies that are recycling (water) will get tax exemptions.
"Same thing for people who are doing rainwater harvesting and in the next three years, if they don't do it, then there's a penalty against them.
"We have no choice already. We have come to a point where if we still mollycoddle companies and so on, in two years, we really will have a problem," he said.
Aside from tax exemptions and penalties, Charles said the government needed to provide allocations to explore all their options in dealing with the water issue.
The consequences of not taking this matter seriously could be seen elsewhere such as India and Cape Town in South Africa, he said.
"Water is essential to everything, and losses as a result of a water crisis are humongous," he said.
Charles also pointed out that river pollution was also another major problem that needs to be taken seriously as it was getting out of hand.
He said that despite rivers being the main contributor to drinking water in Malaysia, people have not been taking the issue of pollution seriously.
As such, Charles said the formation of a national river protection agency was mooted.
"We need one agency to take ownership (of the river pollution issue), which can make decisive decisions on the way we manage our rivers," he said.
In March, chemical dumping at Sungai Kim Kim in Pasir Gudang resulted in 2,775 falling ill from exposure to toxic fumes.
Malaysiakini also reported Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin in March this year said the number of "dead" rivers in the country stood at 25, a stark increase from just a single dead river in 2017.
In his speech at the Malaysian National Water Conference today, Charles said that if river pollution was not dealt with soon, it would become a great threat to public health.
"So, don't think that we are not at the tipping point. We are at the tipping point right now," he told Malaysiakini. - Mkini
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