Words that Malaysians might associate with water are probably “Selangor”, “pollution” and “disruptions”. During the past one year, Malaysians, Selangor residents especially, have faced a number of water disruptions, one of such even affecting as many as 1.2 million consumers in 1,292 areas in Kuala Lumpur, Klang, Petaling, Shah Alam, Hulu Selangor, Kuala Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat. Meanwhile, another state in Malaysia is facing a different type of water issue: getting clean water supply. Residents in Kelantan had to put up with consuming murky waters for more than a decade now, and last year, the Malaysian Water and Environment Ministry sought an allocation of RM7 billion from the federal government to solve water issues in Kelantan holistically. Water-related problems are nothing new to Malaysians, and in conjunction with World Water Day today, let’s take a closer look at the causes of major water issues plaguing Malaysians and possible solutions for them.

According to the President of the Malaysian Water Forum, Saral Maniam James, Malaysia’s tap water has bad taste and odour. She explained that this is mainly caused by dirt and rust in our pipes. Even though the water from our treatment plants is clean, the old, dirty and rusty pipes that deliver the water to our homes could affect its purity, taste and odour. High amounts of iron or manganese in the water could also be another reason for our tap water’s bad taste and odour. This is definitely a cause for concern since contaminated water can cause many deadly diseases such as typhoid, cholera, and dysentery.

The solution? Filtering or boiling your tap water before consumption is the best way to ensure safe drinking water. If you find that sediment in plumbing is a persistent problem and filtering or boiling does not solve the problem, your best course of action would be to ask a plumber to flush your entire system. If you are in need of a plumber, head on over to Air Selangor’s website to find an extensive list of licensed plumbers in Malaysia. If the problem persists, the next best course of action would be to lodge a complaint to the appropriate water company/water board which is responsible for water supply in your area.

Water disruption is an issue almost all Malaysians are too familiar with, especially Selangor residents. Selangor, the economic heart of the country, has been continuously plagued with water supply disruptions for various reasons such as river pollution. The underlying issue here is a lack of authority to punish water pollution offenders and no monitoring of waste disposal companies. According to its website, Air Selangor operates and maintains the entire water services value chain from the reservoirs to the distribution of treated water to consumers. However, the agency does not have the authority to punish offenders who pollute the rivers from which the state’s water supply comes from. That responsibility lies with federal agencies such as the Department of Environment (DoE).

At state level, the Selangor Water Management Board (LUAS) is empowered under the LUAS enactment to licence and control discharge into water supply. However, its jurisdiction is limited within the provisions in that enactment. Furthermore, waste from factories are usually handed over to third-party scheduled waste (SW) disposal companies. According to a water consultant in an interview with The Star, nobody knows where the trucks go after they leave the factory premises with the SW because there is no tracking system in place. Therefore, there’s no stopping errant trucks from dumping the waste into waterways.

The best solution to our water disruption issue due to pollution would be to devise a support plan in the event of a water disruption. Among the strategies that can be considered are creating storage ponds from which water can be tapped in the event of an emergency such as water contamination. This protects water catchment areas and introduces a more sophisticated water treatment system that allows for contaminated water to be treated directly without having to shut down the water treatment plants, as is the case now. Other solutions include imposing heavy fines on offenders who pollute rivers and implementing a tracking system to monitor third-party waste disposal companies.

Léo Heller, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, stated that safe drinking water is not accessible for some groups in Malaysia. Heller urged the government to address the lack of access for several groups of people such as the indigenous people, those affected by mega projects, populations living in informal settlements, refugees and asylum seekers. Improved drinking water infrastructure and policy are especially lacking in indigenous communities. The Orang Asli, the indigenous population in Malaysia, mainly collect their water directly from rivers and streams, but they also use these rivers as toilets. Heller reported that many of the existing water treatment facilities are not working and they are too difficult to maintain without proper training, which the Orang Asli lack.

For this issue, the Malaysian government needs to pay better attention to low income groups to ensure that they get access to clean water and sanitation as well. Targeted policies are needed to improve access for indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups. Additionally, the government can work with NGOs to come up with sustainable solutions such as constructing groundwater wells, installing ultra-filtration water filters in villages, and providing training on water, sanitation and hygiene to the affected groups.

Many of the solutions to our water woes suggested above are intended for the relevant authorities involved, but that does not mean there is nothing we can do as consumers. All of us should play a part in using our water sources sustainably because our increasing demand could possibly dry up our resources in the future, which would add to our existing list of water woes. The simplest and easiest thing we could do is reduce our water consumption. According to the World Health Organization, the recommended amount of water consumption by an average person per day is 150 litres. Currently, an average Malaysian consumes 209 litres of water a day. It is high time Malaysians change our attitude towards unrestricted water consumption. The infographic below shows some of the ways we can save water in daily life.

Water safety in Malaysia may have greatly improved over the years, but more action is required to secure access to safe water and sanitation for all in addition to addressing our frequent water cut issues. All parties—the government, private companies and consumers—must play an active role in addressing this dire issue if we do not want to face a major water crisis in the future.

Try out the water trivia below to get an inkling of what might happen if Malaysians do not wake up and start conserving our fast depleting water resources.