15 April 2021
THE lack of efficiency in water management continues to be the biggest threat to the country’s water distribution which is also likely to be caused by the absence of tariff hike.
Citing data from National Water Services Commission, Malaysian Water Association (MWA) president Datuk Abdul Kadir Mohd Din said five states recorded a loss in their water operating revenue in 2018.
“Malaysia has plenty of raw water of about 496 billion cu m, only taken from the surface water and only 3% is used. The volume of water supply is not the problem. The true problem is with the efficiency of water and ecosystem management.
“In 2018, five states experienced losses and still did not improve from the year before. The loss could be taken as an indication of their performance,” he said during a forum titled “Right to Clean Water in Malaysia” organised by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia yesterday.
According to the data, the five states were Kedah, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Perlis and Selangor.
Selangor recorded the biggest loss with RM1.28 billion during the year, followed by Pahang with RM30.48 million and Kedah with RM10.54 million.
Abdul Kadir said the water industry has been calling for the right water pricing and the relevant tariff mechanism.
Malaysia has been experiencing slow growth in tariff hikes with some states having not reviewed their water tariff for as long as more than 30 years.
Last month, Environment and Water (KASA) Minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the government will require more time to come up with a restructuring plan with tariff increase that will not be burdensome.
The minister mentioned that a new proposal of the Water Tariff Setting Mechanism has been drafted to set new water tariffs that are more transparent, systematic and fair, but does not burden the people, particularly the bottom 40% income group.
Meanwhile, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations president Prof Datuk Dr Marimuthu Nadason said the country’s low tariffs have resulted in the excessive usage of water.
“The level of water consumption for Malaysia is quite bad for the simplest reason — the tariff is at a comfortable level. We often use it at 200 litres per day at one time and some countries cannot use 45 litres.
“That brings to the aspect of non-revenue water (NRW). If our country wants to be a developed nation, we have to keep our NRW at 20% and now it is at around 30% level,” he said.
A data from the KASA showed that as of last year, six states recorded an alarming level of treated water reserve margin at below 15%.
The states were Johor (11.3%), Sabah (8.3%), Perlis (7.1%), Selangor (1.5%), Kelantan (-0.2%) and Kedah (-2.3%).
Source: https://themalaysianreserve.com/2021/04/06/inefficiency-the-main-issue-in-water-management/#:~:text=THE%20lack%20of%20efficiency%20in,the%20absence%20of%20tariff%20hike.&text=The%20volume%20of%20water%20supply%20is%20not%20the%20problem
