Story by Sim Leoi Leoi and R.S.N Murali
Video and pictures by Fiqa Ramli
This used to be under water.
STUDENT Muhammad Rizqi Mubaraq Muhammad Azlani has been bathing at a mosque near his house in Melaka for some time now.
No, he's not homeless. It ís because he doesn’t get much water at home.
"I was forced to take my bath at nearby mosques due to the rationing,’ said Muhammad Rizqi.
Without water, life's become very hard.
Scheduled water rationing in the state began on Jan 29, affecting 550,673 residents, or 62.8% of the total population.
This was further widened to include another 20% of the population (in the Alor Gajah district) on March 10.
That’s almost 700,000 people who, like Muhammad Rizqi, were forced to use water in miserly amounts while worrying when they could cook or if they could use their toilets as well as take a bath before rationing finally stopped on April 1.
A resident reading at the schedule of water rationing for various districts in Melaka earlier this year. - Bernama
A resident reading at the schedule of water rationing for various districts in Melaka earlier this year. - Bernama
Melaka looking for new water sources
Johor still supplying water to Melaka, says CM
Almost every year, dating back to its first major water crisis in 1991, Melakans have faced water rationing.
And now, it looks like other states may face similar water woes.
The scramble for water among residents in Jalan Bendahara during the water crisis in Melaka in 1991.
People queueing up with pails to get water from a tanker due to a water cut in Bandar Puteri 8 in Puchong, Selangor, on October 24, 2016.
Ong Ai Yin, 77, guarding her precious pails of water in a coffee shop in Jalan Laksamana, Melaka on March 23, 1991. At the height of the crisis in 1991, thieves would steal water.
Kim Foong, 68, collects pails of water for the water cut that hit several areas in the Klang Valley in 2018.
According to statistics from the National Water Services Commission (SPAN), unplanned water cuts in Peninsular Malaysia in 2018 far outnumbered scheduled water cuts.
Several states reported thousands of cases of unplanned water cuts.
In 2018, Selangor went though 767 scheduled water cuts.
However, the number of unplanned disruptions in the water supply was more than 15 times higher – 11, 781 cases.
Other states with alarmingly high numbers of unscheduled water cuts last year were Negri Sembilan and Perak.
Pantai condo residents face added woes amid MCO as burst pipe causes water cut
Slight water disruption expected in Klang Valley following odour pollution
Data from SPAN also shows that the reserve margin for water in Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territory of Labuan is among the lowest in recent years.
This comes at the same time that consumption has continued to hike and seepage from leaking pipes remains unstemmed.
The reserve margin - the difference between the production capacity of water treatment plants and usage - was at 12.7% in 2018, the lowest since 2008. In 2019, it crept up very slightly to 12.9%.
Meanwhile, the consumption of water by Malaysians has spiked: from 222 litres per person per day in 2017 to 226 litres in 2018 and up to 230 litres in 2019 - that’s one person finishing 230 single-litre bottles of water in one day.
The United Nations has set daily water requirement well below that, at 165 litres per person per day.
And that’s not all the bad news.
Asked if our country’s water supply and sources are becoming unsustainable, former SPAN chairman Charles Santiago says the challenges facing the industry are “not only NRW, reserve margin and the LCD.”
(NRW refers to non-revenue water and LCD refers to litres per capita per day or consumption.)
“We must acknowledge that there are various factors that will affect the unsustainable situation, such as tariff, funding, pollution, climate change, availability of water resources and public awareness,” he said in an interview recently with The Star.
Pointing to the increase in Malaysia’s per capita consumption, Santiago says “this is not a good sign as it shows that our consumers still use a lot of water”.
Both SPAN and the former Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry, he says, have carried out a lot of water saving campaigns, including briefings in schools and universities.
But how effective are these public awareness programmes?
Awareness campaigns alone, warns Santiago, are not enough to educate the public.
“There is no major impact for the consumer to save water as the current tariff is very low.
“Tariff setting mechanism is a very important tool to ensure the level of service and water assets are in good condition and will be able to meet demand and provide better service.
“SPAN has to continue to pursue this matter as the current tariff is not conducive (to this),” he says.
On April 10, Santiago, who was appointed chairman in November 2018, was removed from his post following the change in government.
In January, several states had agreed with the then Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry's proposal to increase tariffs.
However, with the change in many state governments at the end of February, the proposal is now in doubt.
Santiago says that the reserve margin in 2018 at 12.7% was the lowest since 2008, which was due to increased demand and the delay in work on upgrading sources and the water supply system and building new water treatment plants.
Former SPAN chairman and Klang MP Charles Santiago
Former SPAN chairman and Klang MP Charles Santiago
Charles Santiago removed as SPAN chairman
“Proper planning and implementation of water infrastructure is vital to meet sustainable development goals on water,” he says, adding that operators have been imposed with the key performance indicator of maintaining a minimum reserve margin of 15% at all times.
“Currently, five states have a reserve margin of below 10%; one state, between 10% and 15%; and six states have more than 15%.
“All of them have put in place a plan to increase their reserve margin in the next five years,” he assures.
In 2018, Melaka was among seven states in Peninsular Malaysia that recorded an increase in NRW.
This refers to water loss from seepage through faulty and leaky pipes as well as water theft.
Despite rising from 19.6% in 2017 to 21.2% in 2018, Melaka’s NRW is still not the highest.
Perlis takes that crown at 63.8%, up from 63.1% in 2017 - that’s well over half its water supply.
Overall, the level of NRW for Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan in 2018 was 33.9%, which is unsatisfactory, says the latest SPAN report.
In 2017, then Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said that the Malaysian government had set a 25% NRW reduction target by 2020.
However, in February 2019, then Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar set a more realistic target of 31% by the end of the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020).
Pipe leakages, storage reservoir overflows and water theft all contribute to NRW.
“Reducing NRW is one of the key performance indicators SPAN has set for operators,” says Santiago in the foreword to the SPAN report.
According to the World Bank, in developing countries, roughly 45 million cubic meters of water are lost daily with an economic value of over US$3bil (RM13bil) a year. If that could be halved, the saved water would be enough to supply around 90 million people.
Santiago also highlights the need to conserve the country’s rivers, pointing to incidents of pollution in Johor, Pahang and Selangor that have disrupted water supply in recent months.
Before his termination, he says SPAN was reaching out to various stakeholders to protect our rivers - the main source of our drinking water.
In Melaka, Chief Minister Datuk Sulaiman Md Ali, who came into power during the political turmoil at the end of February, started his first day in office on March 9 by pledging to end the water rationing exercise.
At that time, he said a long-term solution was being looked into to ensure that there would be enough water during Ramadan this month.
Such a pledge couldn’t come at a more important time
According to MetMalaysia (Malaysian Meteorological Department), Kedah; Kelantan; Penang; parts of Perak, including Cameron Highlands; Perlis; Sandakan and Tawau in Sabah; and parts of Terengganu are expected to see between 20% and up to 60% less rain in April and May.
This is something the states can't afford to ignore.
THERE has been much talk about how the planet’s air has become less polluted - thanks to lockdowns around the globe that have restricted most human activity.
The activities of water polluters, however, have blithely continued.
Odour pollution was detected by Air Selangor on March 17 and again on April 16, leading to the shutdown of several treatment plants and disruptions in water supply for hundreds of thousands of households in Selangor.
To check this, the Selangor government announced on April 19 that it would conduct round-the-clock surveillance in the Klang Valley’s main river basins until May 31.
In fact, data from the Environment and Water Ministry showed that between March 18 and April 14 – at the height of the country’s movement control order (MCO) period – readings at 13 of the 29 real-time river monitoring stations actually showed a slight reduction in quality.
Water quality only improved at eight stations while for the rest there was no marked difference in quality.
The ministry has attributed the deterioration in quality to heavy rain at the beginning of the monsoon season: it seems stormwater carried silt from many of the earthworks halted by the MCO into rivers. There was also a lack of maintenance at retention ponds.
But all this only underlines just how vulnerable our water security is. This is because Malaysia still depends on rivers for up to 95% of its water supply.
So has the time come for Malaysia to have a National River Authority that is dedicated to protecting all rivers as security areas?
Former National Water Services Commission (SPAN) chairman Charles Santiago suggested this during his tenure earlier this year. (Santiago held the post from November 2018 until last month when he was removed following the change in government.)
He argues that while states like Selangor and Johor have water regulatory bodies like Lembaga Urus Air Selangor and Badan Kawal Selia Air Negeri Johor, other states don’t have similar facilities or proper funding.
“The National River Authority could be given the power to manage rivers and to make rivers into security areas.
“In Selangor, for instance, there’s a lot of (treatment plant) shutdowns, especially in September and December last year, due to the dumping of industrial waste into manholes.
“That’s why you need a dedicated river authority to manage rivers that are our source of water. It’s a real security problem for the country,” he says, adding that “we are being held to ransom by these dumpsters”.
With the setting up of such an authority – something that was raised under the Pakatan Harapan administration and rejected – Santiago says 50m of the banks along a river will be completely gazetted and factories or any activities at all would be disallowed. Also, CCTVs will be installed and patrols mounted.
“The time has come,” says Santiago, vowing to raise the matter again with current Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man despite having been removed from his post in SPAN.
“Now will be a good time to set up the authority because for the first time both the Departments of Environment and Drainage and Irrigation are under the same ministry.”
In an e-mail reply to queries from The Star, Tuan Ibrahim says the suggestion for such an authority at the federal level might be construed as an infringement on states’ power over rivers.
“But this doesn’t mean that we can relax on measures to combat river pollution.
Environment and Water Minister Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man - Bernama
Environment and Water Minister Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man - Bernama
“There are already established platforms, such as the Majlis Air Negara (National Water Council) and Majlis Tanah Negara (National Land Council) that bring federal and state agencies together to work on a common cause,” he says.
Tuan Ibrahim, who assumed his post in early March, points out that when the Barisan Nasional government embarked on water reform in 2006, one of its main components was the amendment of Schedule 9 of the Federal Constitution.
“(It was to) transfer ‘matters pertaining to water supply and services’ from the State List to the Concurrent List. Both Parliament and state legislative assemblies share the power to make laws over items on the Concurrent List.
“It’s clear that the Federal government respects the jurisdiction of state governments over water sources, including rivers.
“State governments were asked to establish a water resources regulatory body to look after and safeguard water sources. Today, such bodies have been set up in almost every state,” he explains.
The ministry, says Tuan Ibrahim, also plans to impose stiffer punishments on water polluters.
“The ministry will be amending Section 121 of Act 655 (Water Services Industry Act) to impose more severe and stiffer punishments to punish water polluters.
“We expect to bring the amendment to Parliament in the fourth quarter,” he adds.
Admitting that “some irresponsible parties” took advantage of the MCO period to dump waste into drains – which was then carried by stormwater into rivers during the heavy monsoon rains – Tuan Ibrahim says that several measures have already been put in place to stop this, including 24-hour surveillance by both federal and state agencies.
“Their job is to ensure there is no discharge of illegal substances into any body of water.
“Immediate actions are taken against any culprit found to have breached any law regulating water resources.
“So far, this has had some positive results in terms of reducing illegal dumping activities in the state (of Selangor),” he says, vowing the measures will continue until there is proper compliance with the law by all parties concerned.
THERE has been much talk about how the planet’s air has become less polluted - thanks to lockdowns around the globe that have restricted most human activity.
The activities of water polluters, however, have blithely continued.
Odour pollution was detected by Air Selangor on March 17 and again on April 16, leading to the shutdown of several treatment plants and disruptions in water supply for hundreds of thousands of households in Selangor.
To check this, the Selangor government announced on April 19 that it would conduct round-the-clock surveillance in the Klang Valley’s main river basins until May 31.
In fact, data from the Environment and Water Ministry showed that between March 18 and April 14 – at the height of the country’s movement control order (MCO) period – readings at 13 of the 29 real-time river monitoring stations actually showed a slight reduction in quality.
Water quality only improved at eight stations while for the rest there was no marked difference in quality.
The ministry has attributed the deterioration in quality to heavy rain at the beginning of the monsoon season: it seems stormwater carried silt from many of the earthworks halted by the MCO into rivers. There was also a lack of maintenance at retention ponds.
But all this only underlines just how vulnerable our water security is. This is because Malaysia still depends on rivers for up to 95% of its water supply.
So has the time come for Malaysia to have a National River Authority that is dedicated to protecting all rivers as security areas?
Former National Water Services Commission (SPAN) chairman Charles Santiago suggested this during his tenure earlier this year. (Santiago held the post from November 2018 until last month when he was removed following the change in government.)
He argues that while states like Selangor and Johor have water regulatory bodies like Lembaga Urus Air Selangor and Badan Kawal Selia Air Negeri Johor, other states don’t have similar facilities or proper funding.
“The National River Authority could be given the power to manage rivers and to make rivers into security areas.
“In Selangor, for instance, there’s a lot of (treatment plant) shutdowns, especially in September and December last year, due to the dumping of industrial waste into manholes.
“That’s why you need a dedicated river authority to manage rivers that are our source of water. It’s a real security problem for the country,” he says, adding that “we are being held to ransom by these dumpsters”.
With the setting up of such an authority – something that was raised under the Pakatan Harapan administration and rejected – Santiago says 50m of the banks along a river will be completely gazetted and factories or any activities at all would be disallowed. Also, CCTVs will be installed and patrols mounted.
“The time has come,” says Santiago, vowing to raise the matter again with current Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man despite having been removed from his post in SPAN.
“Now will be a good time to set up the authority because for the first time both the Departments of Environment and Drainage and Irrigation are under the same ministry.”
In an e-mail reply to queries from The Star, Tuan Ibrahim says the suggestion for such an authority at the federal level might be construed as an infringement on states’ power over rivers.
“But this doesn’t mean that we can relax on measures to combat river pollution.
Environment and Water Minister Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man - Bernama
Environment and Water Minister Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man - Bernama
“There are already established platforms, such as the Majlis Air Negara (National Water Council) and Majlis Tanah Negara (National Land Council) that bring federal and state agencies together to work on a common cause,” he says.
Tuan Ibrahim, who assumed his post in early March, points out that when the Barisan Nasional government embarked on water reform in 2006, one of its main components was the amendment of Schedule 9 of the Federal Constitution.
“(It was to) transfer ‘matters pertaining to water supply and services’ from the State List to the Concurrent List. Both Parliament and state legislative assemblies share the power to make laws over items on the Concurrent List.
“It’s clear that the Federal government respects the jurisdiction of state governments over water sources, including rivers.
“State governments were asked to establish a water resources regulatory body to look after and safeguard water sources. Today, such bodies have been set up in almost every state,” he explains.
The ministry, says Tuan Ibrahim, also plans to impose stiffer punishments on water polluters.
“The ministry will be amending Section 121 of Act 655 (Water Services Industry Act) to impose more severe and stiffer punishments to punish water polluters.
“We expect to bring the amendment to Parliament in the fourth quarter,” he adds.
Admitting that “some irresponsible parties” took advantage of the MCO period to dump waste into drains – which was then carried by stormwater into rivers during the heavy monsoon rains – Tuan Ibrahim says that several measures have already been put in place to stop this, including 24-hour surveillance by both federal and state agencies.
“Their job is to ensure there is no discharge of illegal substances into any body of water.
“Immediate actions are taken against any culprit found to have breached any law regulating water resources.
“So far, this has had some positive results in terms of reducing illegal dumping activities in the state (of Selangor),” he says, vowing the measures will continue until there is proper compliance with the law by all parties concerned.
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