Malaysia’s water industry is in “dire straits”, so says the water, land and natural resources minister. The country is expected to see its water resources reduced by 20% to 25% between 2025 and 2030. The minister added that despite that looming threat, Malaysia’s water industry is not yet equipped to effectively address the water shortage. “However, it is difficult to meet this requirement as demand is outstripping supply.
Selangor lost one of its most pristine white-water rafting sites that was acclaimed as world class. Since then, taxpayers have had to bear the cost of the dam through indirect taxation. The rising cost of living is but the result of uneconomic projects by the authorities, a burden we are paying for today.
Malaysia is blessed with abundant rain water, yet we are the worst squanderers of this natural resource. We have many times more water than most African countries and yet we are facing a water shortage crisis. Malaysians are among the worst water wasters in the world, with a national average water consumption of 200 litres/capita/day when 20 to 30 litres of water per person per day is considered adequate for basic human needs.
This has been happening for decades now. In 1999, when SOS Selangor met the ministry officials and showed them a map of the water sources in Selangor with illegal factories highlighted around these river tributaries, the officials showed surprise at our map: “By right, they shouldn’t be there!” The same can be said for the lack of a serious energy conservation campaign. Unless this is done, we will continue to experience the consequences of a wasteful attitude to water usage, the needless building of dams and, now, a geologically questionable proposal to utilise groundwater just announced by the minister.
He says it is easy to work out the amount of water that can be extracted sustainably from each basin. As long as the state governments fail to consider the capacity of the river basin, there is no guarantee that adding new dams can solve water shortages, he is quoted as saying.
Malaysians are among the worst water wasters in the world, with a national average water consumption of 200 litres/capita/day when 20 to 30 litres of water per person per day is considered adequate for basic human needs.
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