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MalaysiaKini, Tuesday, 2 Jun 2020

For almost two months, Malaysians were largely confined to their homes, thanks to the movement control order (MCO). Many were stuck between a rock and a hard place due to their eagerness to get back to work, fuelled by diminishing incomes and prolonged economic inactivity, conflicting with a fear of exposure to Covid-19 which has killed hundreds of thousands globally. So, the residents of Klang Valley might have looked at their water bills between March and April and felt the low or nominal charges made their lives just a little easier in what was a tough time for many.

But, in the past couple of weeks, as the country has begun to ease into the less restrictive conditional MCO, and as new water bills have begun rolling out, some received a rude awakening. The latest bills did not just compensate for any prior low charges, but seemingly ballooned to triple, even quadruple, consumers’ usual amounts even before the lockdown. Some might have looked at the new bills and raised the issue with Klang Valley’s sole water service provider – Air Selangor, thinking theirs were isolated cases. But a check on Air Selangor’s social media channels over the past week showed hundreds of grouses from people shocked by the sudden spike. In many cases observed by Between The Lines (BTL), people who had bills of around RM20 a month previously now received bills upwards of RM90 or even exceeding RM100.

Tiered billing system

A slight spike in this month’s water bill was already anticipated. Up to February, Selangor allowed its residents, irrespective of economic status, to enjoy up to 20 cubic metres of free water. However, from March 1, the state was to begin enforcing its Darul Ehsan Water Scheme which would only accord free treated water for registered Selangor households with a monthly income of RM4,000 or less. The rest were to have been charged based on consumption, the minimum amount being RM6. Then came the MCO, which resulted in Air Selangor announcing it would suspend house-to-house meter reading between March 18 and April 30.

Read more: Post-MCO: What's fueling the spike in Air Selangor's water bill?

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MalaysiaKini, Thursday, 6 Sep 2018, 7:53 pm

LETTER | A growing population leads to greater pressures on the availability of water resources. Population growth brings about mounting demands and competition for water in domestic, industrial, and municipal uses. Water is also needed for agriculture and industrial, and for the disposal of waste materials. Water is crucial for life on earth. It plays an essential role in our health, economy, food production, and environment. Safe drinking water and freshwater are imperative for development and public health. Based on a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) statement, 160,000 hectares of the Ulu Muda forest in Kedah, which act as a water catchment area for the Muda, Pedu and Ahning dams, provide an invaluable environmental service to northern peninsular Malaysia.

Rivers originating from deep within this forest provides as much as 96 percent of Kedah’s and 80 percent of Penang’s water supply – driving the region’s growth. About four million people in the three northern states in Malaysia are dependent on Ulu Muda as a regional water catchment area. Potential deforestation and unsustainable logging activities, both legal and illegal, threaten Ulu Muda’s role as a water catchment area by affecting the quality and volume of its water output. The clearing of forest patches and unsustainable logging increase the run-off of soil into Ulu Muda’s lakes and rivers, making raw water supply murky and more expensive to treat.

“There has been a widespread failure to recognise water’s vital role in providing food, energy, sanitation, disaster relief, environmental sustainability and other benefits. This has left hundreds of millions of people suffering from poverty and ill health and exposed to the risks of water-related diseases,” Ban Ki-moon, former secretary-general of the United Nations (UN) said in the foreword to the UN World Water Development Report 3. In April 2018, Malaysian Water Forum embarked on an initiative through a memorandum highlighting the need for independent research to study the impact of logging in the reserve forest of Ulu Muda by considering the economic impact towards surrounding agriculture activities, the health of the surrounding population, and flora and fauna.

Read more: Many thanks to Kedah MB for halting Ulu Muda logging activities

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MalaysiaKini, Thursday, 23 Apr 2020, 11:14 am

Water is important for food and rural development, national food security, economic development and the environment to preserve water resources (both surface water, groundwater and natural flow regimes), bio-diversity and cultural heritage, along with mitigation of water-related hazards. As the world confronts the Covid-19 pandemic, experts stress the importance of constantly and thoroughly washing hands with soap and water and using alcohol-based hand sanitisers to reduces the risk of getting or spreading the coronavirus. What if we do not have access to clean water for any prolonged time during this or any future pandemic?

Sungai Selangor is one of the major rivers that runs from Kuala Kubu Bharu and empties into the Straits of Malacca at Kuala Selangor. Sungai Selangor Dam and Sungai Tinggi Dam have the capacity to supply 344,529 million litres of water. There are three water treatment plants operating under Sungai Selangor with a total capacity of 2,700 million litres per day serving Klang Valley, Kuala Selangor and Hulu Selangor involving 1,133 areas of 1,166,842 customer accounts. On March 27, we faced the first unscheduled water disruption during the movement control order and another within 20 days which was on April 17. This water disruption caused by pollution in Sungai Selangor affected 52 percent of total account holders in Selangor.

Amid this Covid-19 pandemic, 1,292 areas in eight regions, namely Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat, faced water disruption from midnight of April 16 which was only fully restored after three days. The Sungai Selangor Water Treatment plants SSP1, SSP2, SSP3 and Rantau Panjang had to be shut down following an incident of odour pollution in Sungai Selangor detected in the raw water supply from the river.

Government and water operators are committed to providing better water supply for the general public as well as for the industrial and agricultural) sectors. Several policies have been developed and many programmes have been initiated to ensure continuous water supply. However, rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, together with climate change and increasing number of polluted rivers, make some of the traditional approaches in planning and managing water resources ineffective and requires urgent assessment.

Read more: Once it was 'water saves lives', now it is 'safe water for a better life'

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The Star, Friday, May 15, 2020, 11:11 AM

PETALING JAYA - Water consumption in the country has gone up even as the national reserve margin is among the lowest since 2008 and seepage from leaky pipes continue. Latest data from the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) showed consumption per capita in Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan has spiked to 230 litres per capita per day (LCD) last year, up from 226 litres (LCD) in 2018 and 222 LCD in 2017. The reserve margin - the difference between the production capacity of water treatment plants and the usage - was at 12.7 per cent in 2018, the lowest since 2008. Last year, it crept up to 12.9 per cent.

The United Nations set the daily water requirement at 165 litres per person every day. In 2018, seven states recorded an increase in non-revenue water (NRW) from loss and seepage through faulty and leaky pipes - Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Melaka, Terengganu, Perlis and Selangor. "The level of our NRW at 33.9 per cent for the peninsula and Labuan in 2018 remained unsatisfactory. Pipe leakage, storage reservoir overflows and water theft all contribute to NRW. "Reducing NRW is one of the key performance indicators SPAN has set for operators, " said former chairman Charles Santiago in the latest SPAN report.

The report was published earlier this year before Santiago was removed as SPAN chairman. He confirmed the water consumption data for last year. In the report, Santiago also highlighted the need to conserve the country's rivers, pointing to incidents of pollution in Selangor, Johor and Pahang that had disrupted water supply in recent months. Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer) president S. Piarapakaran said it may not be entirely right to say Malaysians tend to waste water by comparing the recommended water usage at 165 LCD. Although Malaysia is categorised as a country with high domestic water consumption, he said there were many reasons that contributed to the increase in water consumption per capita in the country.

Read more: Water consumption in Malaysia goes up