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According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNDP), water shortage is one of the two major environmental issues facing the world today. Despite Malaysia being a country with high rainfall intensity, a growing area of concern is freshwater scarcity.

Dr Poh Phaik Eong, a Chemical Engineering lecturer in the School of Engineering shared that this scarcity in water is attributed to the industrialisation, population growth, urbanisation and climate change, all of which are happening within the country.

"With the recent water rationing exercise which affected the Klang Valley, instead of depending on drastic measures to cope with water shortage in the country, this has highlighted the urgency in finding a sustainable solution to water scarcity," said Dr Poh, who also leads a team of researchers to study the effectiveness of a two-stage filtration and ozonation system for greywater treatment.

In light of this, a collaborative research agreement in the area of greywater treatment and reuse was signed recently, between Monash University Malaysia and Bacteria Free Water Engineering (M) Sdn Bhd (BACFREE), a design and consulting company which provides solutions to domestic, commercial and industrial water and wastewater treatment.

"Universities cannot work in isolation. For knowledge transfer and application to real-life issues we must partner with industry specialists. This collaboration is more than a piece of paper. It cements work that is underway and focuses on priority issues in today's environment. The outcome of this research is also extremely relevant to solving the existing water shortage issue in Malaysia," said Professor Helen Bartlett, Pro Vice Chancellor and President of Monash University Malaysia.

This 3-month research collaboration will provide insights on operating conditions to produce treated greywater that is suitable for non-potable reuse.

"This research is a timely one as the building industry evolves to adopt more green features and also the pressing need to ensure that our growth model is a sustainable one. The outcome of the research will greatly enhance our understanding of grey water harvesting, which in turn will improve and optimise our Greywater Harvesting System (GWHS) design," said Dr Chee Chung Yee, Technical Director of BACFREE.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Dr Zalina Shari, Board Member of Malaysia Green Building Confederation (MGBC) shared her pleasure and noted that this collaboration marked a significant milestone in Malaysia's green building technology research road map.

"In Malaysia, urban homes have been using far more water than the United Nation's recommendation of 200 litres per household. Research reveals that a typical Malaysian household uses 500 litres of water daily, compared to the 155 litres in Singapore and 90 litres in Thailand. With the water crisis and subsequent rationing exercise, Malaysians have to finally face the fact that water is indeed a scarce resource," said Dr Zalina.

"Therefore, this research collaboration, which aims to improve the quality of treated greywater and collected rainwater, is considered highly important, relevant and timely. This will in turn contribute to the enhancement of national capability and capacity for innovation in the development of green technology," she continued.

The agreement was signed by the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Monash University Malaysia, Professor Helen Bartlett and the Technical Director of BACFREE, Dr. Chee Chung Yee; witnessed by the Head of School of Engineering and Information Technology, Prof. Anthony Guo and Board Member of Malaysia Green Building Confederation (MGBC), Dr Zalina Shari.

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united nations environment program (undp)

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According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNDP), water shortage is one of the two major environmental issues facing the world today. Despite Malaysia being a country with high rainfall intensity, a growing area of concern is freshwater scarcity.

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LOW treated water reserve margin has been behind the water crisis in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya for the past few years. We raised this issue in 2011 but we were accused of providing misleading information and called a number of unsavoury names as well.

Reserve margin is the extra distributable capacity after meeting the current demand. The reserve margin allows the treatment plant to cater to any sudden increase in demand or unforeseen water shortage. It is vital to ensure that there is a sufficient reserve margin during scheduled (maintenance and pipe replacement) and unscheduled (low level of raw water, major pipe burst, raw water pollution and sudden breakdown) disruptions in supply. The reserve margin will reduce the impact of water disruption at the affected areas as well as speed up recovery when the supply is restored.

When the reserve margin is low, recovery after disruption will take a longer time as the system needs to fill up the reservoirs and also meet the existing and backlogged demand as well as non-revenue water (NRW).

A low reserve margin also causes low water pressure in some areas even during normal operation on hotter days.

There are two solutions to solve low reserve margin - build a new water treatment plant and reduce NRW. Using cost benefit analysis, the immediate step would be to build a new water treatment plant. Reduction of NRW is a supporting solution.

Why did we reach the low reserve margin?

The Water Services Industry Act 2006 (WSIA), enforced on Jan 1, 2008 by the National Water Services Commission Malaysia (SPAN), requires state governments in Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territories of Putrajaya and Labuan to restructure their water services (water treatment, water supply and sewerage services) operations according to the WSIA model.

Liabilities from the existing operations were transferred to Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad (PAAB), which is regulated by SPAN, and all new infrastructures would be funded via PAAB or other cheaper financing (if applicable). This would make the work of changing old pipes and building new treatment plants easier.

However, the Selangor state government did not agree to restructure until the 2014 water crisis that kept 60% of consumers in the state, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya on a water rationing plan for a few months.

The Langat 2 water treatment plant was scheduled to be completed by 2014 but it is now delayed to 2019. This plant was supposed to produce 1130 million litres per day (MLD) of treated water with a reserve margin of about 20% if it had begun operations in 2014.

From 2014 until today, many new projects and expansion of existing projects have been put on hold. Only selected projects are being approved.

The real increase in water demand for the Klang Valley is being suppressed. On the other hand, the level of NRW in the Klang Valley is still above 30%. When Langat 2 is fully operational by 2019, the effective treated water that can be distributed would be around 790 MLD (after deducting conservative NRW level). We also need to keep in mind that when more water is available, pressure in the pipe network would increase and may cause higher NRW.

The reserve margin when Langat 2 is operational will be 10% to 15%, depending on the NRW situation as well as demand. We are expecting a steep increase in demand after Langat 2 comes into operation as many pending project applications would be approved swiftly. By 2021 or 2022, if NRW is still above 25%, we will reach a low reserve margin situation again.

Therefore, we need to tackle NRW with full force.

Looking at the Sungai Selangor Phase 3 (SSP3) water treatment plant, it has been operating above capacity by 20% since 2016.

Operating above capacity, or overloading, will speed up wear and tear of the infrastructure as well as increase maintenance cost. The supporting infrastructure also needs to be upgraded to ensure there is no system failure.

I remember questioning a senior SPAN official in early 2016 about this. There is no way a scheduled maintenance operation can be postponed if a particular plant is operating above capacity.

Did SPAN, the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry (KeTTHA) and Selangor state government make the necessary engineering audit to see if this overloading is sustainable?

Just recently, it was reported that the manager of the SSP3 plant mentioned lack of funds and expertise to maintain the plant. This is an absurd and irresponsible reasoning given by a concession holder.

To ensure that facts are disclosed accurately, the Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer) is urging SPAN to form an independent enquiry committee to investigate the SSP3 issue. The committee should investigate, among others, whether the overloading approval process followed the required engineering audits; time taken between detection of equipment with problems and taking action; potential breach of concession agreement clauses that can allow the state government to cancel the concession agreement; and overview of other treatment plants that are overloaded in the Klang Valley to prevent a similar incident.

The Selangor state government must swiftly conclude the restructuring process and follow the 30-year business plan through promptly. Further delay will only cause more water disruptions as well as higher tariffs.

Selangor has shown a clear-cut example of the negative repercussions of not restructuring to allow infrastructure development and improvement.

Politicising water services will never bring any good to any entity. Just look at how Negri Sembilan and Melaka have improved their water treatment and supply situation after restructuring.

KeTTHA and SPAN should also play a more proactive role. If the need arises, incompetent officers should be removed to ensure the Federal Government is able to protect water services which are crucial for the people and the economy. Indecision causes water crisis.
PIARAPAKARAN S. President
Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia

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Indecision causing water crisis - Letters | The Star Online

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LOW treated water reserve margin has been behind the water crisis in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya for the past few years. We raised this issue in 2011 but we were accused of providing misleading information and called a number of unsavoury names as well.

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PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysians in six states must brace for water rationing due to the extreme hot weather, says Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar.

He said there are three dams which have a storage capacity of only around 50 per cent.

"The three dams are Muda Dam at 58.97 per cent, Machap Dam at 55.61 per cent and Sembrong Dam at 54.07 per cent. The dam at Bukit Kwong Dam in Kelantan is at the storage capacity of 37.28 per cent.

"The daily water needs of consumers, be it for residential use, industrial or agricultural have to be controlled. For the padi farmers, water has to be channelled using the rationing method or the rescheduling of padi replanting," said Dr Xavier in a press statement on Saturday (March 23).

Dr Xavier said that other critical areas which have also only received less than 25 per cent of the average annual rainfall include Rembau and Tampin in Negri Sembilan and Rompin in Pahang.

Areas such as Padang Terap in Kedah, Cameron Highlands and Kuantan in Pahang and Dungun, Hulu Terengganu, Kemaman and Kuala Terengganu are under the "dangerous" category as these places too have not received enough rainfall.

Dr Xavier said it has been predicted that six states - Negri Sembilan, Johor, Perak, Kedah, Pahang and Kelantan - will face water shortages as the weather turns hot and dry due to lack of rainfall.

"There needs to be more water supply from Bersi Dam, Muda Dam, Pedu Dam, Ahning Dam and Jus Dam. This is due to active padi replanting in areas around these dams until April.

"The high demand for water for padi agricultural purposes at Sungai Muda is in March, while in Sungai Kedah, it is in April," said Dr Xavier.

He further said that the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) has requested authorities in their respective states to control water release from the dams.

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Malaysia expecting water shortage in six states, including Johor: Minister

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PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysians in six states must brace for water rationing due to the extreme hot weather, says Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar. He said there are three dams which have a storage capacity of only around 50 per cent.

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Importance of Water | Science For Kids | Grade 2 | Periwinkle

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Water is the source of life on Earth. Without water, nothing can live on the face of the Earth.

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✪ 5 FUTURISTIC Gadgets For SAVING WATER That You MUST See

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Thanks for visiting our Water - Use It Wisely kid's page. Take a look around and check out our resources for kids. It is easier to navigate than ever, so kids and adults can poke around, have fun and learn about water conservation in new ways.

Parents and teachers will love our water saving tip posters, which you can find under Water Saving Tips. These downloadable posters are perfect to get youngsters thinking about water use. The page also has lesson plans and tons of educational resources for teachers, which you'll find under the For Teachers link. And, of course, games like Tip Tank and Discover Water are perfect for kids of all ages. Check out the Games page for links to other cool water-related games and activities. You can test your water sense from our friends at EPA's WaterSense when you race through pipes and meet the water wasters. You can also take an interactive tour of how water works - from source to tap and back.

We enhanced our Kids page because we believe it is important to teach children early about water conservation so they can build smart habits that will last a lifetime. One way to do that is to watch the home water challenge video on our Water Challenge page.

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Water Conservation Resources For Kids | Water Use It Wisely

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Discover our water saving tips and resources for kids. The Water Use It Wisely campaign has created a resource to teach kids water conservation through fun interactive games and our 100+ Ways To Conserve Water. For teachers, we offer additional resources to help your students grasp water saving concepts.

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Do you do this to save water?