Water crisis looms in Klang Valley

By YIP YOKE TENG
teng@thestar.com.my

MOST of us may not think much about using water frugally as the water bill is much lower than other utility bills.

The various campaigns and public service announcements did not seem to have worked; many Malaysians do not see the looming danger of our taps running dry if the current water consumption trend continues.

Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya are expected to be the first areas to be hit by major water crisis, according to Syabas chief operating officer Datuk Lee Miang Koi.

Lee could not say exactly when the water crisis would happen but said the country could face serious problems before the completion of Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant, which was scheduled to be completed in 2015 but was now delayed.

Concerned about this, the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca), in collaboration with Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan Water Watch Association (S3W), Forum Air Malaysia (FAM) and the Water Association of Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, organised a roundtable meeting last Wednesday at the Shah Alam Convention Centre.

The meeting was attended by about 100 representatives from residents’ associations, restaurant owners’ associations, business associations, contractors, government agencies, housing developers’ associations and manufacturers.

Lee was a panel member alongside Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS) director Md Khairi Selamat and National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia research officer Zubaidi Johar.

He said the high demand in these three fast-developing areas with their scarce resources would soon leave the residents high and dry.

“The reserve capacity for Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya is very low, it has reached an alarming stage,” Lee said.

Waste of resources: Wastage due to leaking or burst water pipes.

“The total available production capacity from 33 water treatment plants here is 4,326 MLD (million liters per day) whereas the average demand has reached 4,197 MLD, giving an overall reserve margin of only 3% to 5% depending on daily variation,” he added.

Zubaidi said water demand for the three areas between 2005 and 2010 recorded an annual growth rate of 3.5%, which was expected to continue in view of the states’ development.

“A minimum of 10% reserve capacity is required to cater for peak demands and speedier recovery after water supply interruptions. In fact, some areas in Petaling Jaya, Hulu Langat, southern Kuala Lumpur and Klang are already experiencing water stress,” he added.

There is an urgent need to reduce demand and increase supply. It is learned that consumers in Selangor consume an average of 280 to 300 litres per capita daily (lpcd), considered high among Malaysians.

Increasing water tariff was one of the ways suggested to prevent water wastage and it was welcomed by attendees, as they felt the cost from water wastage would eventually be borne by the ratepayers when the Government spent huge sums to solve water shortage.

Lee said Syabas had urged the federal and state governments to speed up the completion of the Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant in view of impending water shortage estimated to be 951 MLD by 2015.

He added that Syabas had also proposed seven other interim schemes to prevent a water crunch, among them maximising the capacity of existing facilities, harness alternative resources such as underground water and intensify reduction of water loss.

He said a project to tap underground water in Kuala Langat was being planned, while other methods such as desalination would be too expensive to build and maintain.

“The Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant is designed to have a capacity of 1,130 MLD under Phase 1,” he added.

The negative attitude of the public in polluting the river is adding salt to the wound.

Md Khairi said that rivers were heavily polluted with waste discharge.

“Our river water quality are generally deteriorating from Class I and II to Class III, with 53% of the treated water supplied to consumers in these three areas coming from Class III rivers,” he said.

“Dumping rubbish and discharging waste into the rivers will render the water untreatable; the operators will be forced to shutdown water treatment plant operation and we will be left dry,” he said.

Water Association of Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (SWAN) deputy president V. Subramaniam said that tap water to Malaysian consumers had met World Health Organisation’s potable water requirement, thus was safe to be consumed without boiling or filtering.

“Sometimes the water appears a little brown because of sediment in the pipe or reservoir, still, it will not cause any harm to people,” he said.

A memorandum compiling issues and suggestions raised during the meeting will be drafted and presented to both state and Federal Government for further action.