Excerpt:
At a Water Demand Management workshop earlier this week organised by a local think-tank Research for Social Advancement and conducted by an environmental expert from the Malaysian Nature Society, participants concluded that there was a need to move towards demand-driven management to sustain water supply. This is in contrast to the supply-driven planning that is the case. What this just means is that in determining the amount of water required for domestic and non-domestic users, the onus lies on the government – together with community and civil society – to encourage reduced usage of water through education, enforcement and a host of incentives.
This could be done through a number of means, for example installing water-efficient plumbing fixtures in new homes and buildings, providing water conservation kits to homes, water-efficiency labelling schemes for plumbing fixtures and washing machines, vouchers to households to install high-efficiency toilets as well as – and this would be a potentially sensitive subject – increasing water tariffs to discourage mindless usage.
Mega-Projects All Over Again
Managing water demand basically ensures that people behave more conservatively when it comes to water consumption. If demand is reduced, there would be more than sufficient supply to meet the needs of society. Today, Selangor’s water supply is more than sufficient for the 5 million residents of the Klang Valley, although the concern is what happens in several years, in 2016 and beyond. For example, total water demand in 2009 in Selangor was 2650mld (million litres per day), and production capacity still stands at a comfortable 4476mld although the non-revenue water rates are very high at 32.5%.
Unfortunately, the government continues to look for mega-projects as a starry-eyed solution. The Pahang-Selangor Water Transfer Project, for example, would cost taxpayers (not just in Selangor, mind you) RM10 billion. Under the plan, Selangor will pay Pahang 10 sen per cubic metre of water, and this involves several infrastructure monsters: the Kelau Dam, a 44.6km-long tunnel, and a water treatment plant.
The most surprising is Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin’s announcement this week that all states in the peninsula would likely be linked with a pipe network to allow water to be transferred to “meet a sudden surge in demand or counter the effects of a prolonged drought”. So, not only will Selangor be a recipient of such large water tunnels but also the whole of Peninsular Malaysia, subject to approval of all state governments.
One can only begin to imagine the cost of such a large mega-pipe network to connect all states in a grand scheme of ensuring water sustainability, the financial burden of which fall smack on Malaysians.
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(With abundant rainfall almost throughout the year, we have yet to try conservation and harvesting, so our minister's suggestion smacks of the usual BN's preference for mega projects to serve a select few cronies. The same could be said about electricity. We have sunshine almost daily, but solar power seems far from BN's mind. Instead, they would prefer nuclear, if possible.)
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