KUALA LUMPUR: The continuing water crisis in the Klang Valley is caused by the Selangor government’s delay in migrating to a restructured and more efficient water supply management system.
Based on the Malaysia Water Industry Guide 2017 (MWIG) annual report, Selangor (including Kuala Lumpur) registered the highest number of water supply-related complaints.
In 2016, Selangor experienced 80,125 unscheduled water interruptions from the nationwide total of 161,857 cases. This is compared with Johor having 4,934 cases, and Penang (5,908).
In 2015, 81,969 cases were recorded in Selangor, while Johor had 5,325 cases.
Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Zaini Ujang said states which had undergone the water industry restructuring process under the National Water Services Industry Act 2006 framework only recorded an average of less than 10,000 unscheduled water interruption cases a year.
Other states which had joined the National Water Services Industry Restructuring Initiative included Penang, Negri Sembilan, Perlis and Kelantan.
“Johor, for example, is a bigger state than Selangor, but had a lower number of cases as it had completed the restructuring process of its water industry.”
“This was also the case in Melaka, which had inked an agreement with Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd, and only had 10 cases in 2016 and 23 cases the year before.”
He said another factor which led to the high number of cases in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur involved the Sungai Selangor Phase Three project.
“The trend is almost the same between 2015 and last year. The water supply situation in Selangor is at a critical stage,” he told the New Straits Times Press.
He said the report showed that in Selangor, the water reserve margin was at zero, which meant that the only existing (supply of) water was in its pipes.
“There are no reserves. If there were any disruption as a result of a burst pipe or a malfunctioning treatment plant, there will not be enough water in the system to be channelled to consumers,”
Zaini said Selangor needed to obtain new water sources due to rapid development here and in Putrajaya, as well as southern Selangor from Cheras to Nilai.
He said the issue stemmed from the system having optimised its supply in terms of source, treatment and water distribution.
He also said the system required a structural upgrade to boost (the state’s) water assets to accommodate the increasing demand.
He added that the report showed that water usage in Selangor and here was higher at 234 litres/daily capita, exceeding the national average of 209 litres/daily capita.
Zaini said most of the problems stemmed from the existence of old water assets and a lack of ability to overcome a water shortage, which required investments running into billions of ringgit.
He said, among the major problems in Selangor and here were the pipeline’s “finger” design, which meant that should a leak occur, an entire area would suffer a supply disruption.
This, he added, could be solved by improving the pipelines by forming a grid system, thus increasing connectivity in the existing water supply system.
“With the zero water reserve situation, this system will not work. The water reserve margin must be increased by 10 per cent so that excess water can be channelled to problematic areas.”
He said to tackle the problem, the ministry had, 10 years ago, planned to construct the Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant, which could channel water from Pahang to boost the reserve margin.
“Once completed in 2022, the water treatment plant can supply 1,130 millions of litres per day.” Additional reporting by Mohd Husni Mohd Noor