Water Crisis Based On Four Latest Situations 

By Syarrizuan Abd Rashid

SHAH ALAM : Wat-er crisis in store!

In a few years, a major water crisis is expected to hit Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, based on the latest demand for water which has exceeded the current supply capacity.

Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) chief operating officer Datuk Lee Miang Koi said there were four situations, the first being when water supply reserve was less than three per cent on the overall for all states (average demand comparison).

“When water demand peaks (in excess of seven per cent), water supply capacity cannot accommodate demand.

“Based on the latest situation for the May to early June period, water supply reserve on the overall was between 1.15 per cent to about 2.04 per cent,” he said when presenting a briefing at a forum, ‘Issue of Water Supply in Selangor’ organised by the energy, green technology and water ministry here today.

He said the second feature was the difference between the demand and water supply capacity involving territories, which resulted in water supply disruptions and continuing low pressure to 10,000 customer accounts involving 50,000 residents in the water stressed areas.

Up till early this month, Lee said 209,678 customer accounts encompassing one million consumers faced water supply disruption.

The situation was, when the period of continuous water supply disruption lasted more than a month from mid-May and there was no assurance of when the problem would be resolved, noted Lee.

He said the last situation involved critical shortage of water supply and there was no assurance on water supply capacity improvement readiness.

He said Syabas had briefed on the proposed additional water supply capacity development to Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and state executive councillors on July 27, 2010, but there was no feedback, to date.

In fact, he said, the state government had stopped the implementation of the Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant project and issued a statement to the media that treated water supply was sufficient until 2019, and there was no need to develop the new water supply scheme.

Meanwhile, Energy, Green Technology and Water Deputy Minister Datuk Noriah Kasnon said the people in Selangor were still unaware how serious the impending water crisis was in the state, as most of them enjoyed uninterrupted water supply.

“This is because, the federal government has taken steps through its mitigation plan, to overcome the problem earlier and added water capacity at the Klang Valley, especially for Selangor until 2016,” she said.

She was speaking at a forum on water supply in Selangor, attended by 200 participants here Thursday.

Noriah however, said even though the federal government had taken steps to assist the Selangor Government, it could not continue as it involved hundreds of millions of ringgit in expenditure.

She said, on the other hand, if the state government sincerely cooperated with the federal government, through the Langat 2 Water Treatment Plant Project, hundreds of millions of ringgit in funding could be channelled for other development projects for the benefit of the people.

“But, without the approval of the state government, the Langat 2 project cannot proceed,” she said.