Sustainability for One Planet

With three contamination cases having struck water treatment plants in the Klang Valley this year, questions have been raised over whether adequate security measures are in place to protect the country’s water sources. Experts and environmentalists believe that answers, and especially action, are needed to curb any more of such cases, which are preventable. Water quality expert Dr Praveena Nair said the public must be educated on the importance of not disposing any waste into the river. She said there still existed the misguided perception that anything liquid-based dumped into rivers would automatically be treated.

The 2020 edition of the World Water Development Report (WWDR 2020) entitled ‘Water and Climate Change’ aims at helping the water community to tackle the challenges of climate change and informing the climate change community about the opportunities that improved water management offers in terms of adaptation and mitigation. The scientific evidence is clear: the climate is changing and will continue to change, affecting societies mainly through water. Climate change will affect the availability, quality and quantity of water for basic human needs, threatening the effective enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation for potentially billions of people. The alteration of the water cycle will also pose risks for energy production, food security, human health, economic development and poverty reduction, thus seriously jeopardizing the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

According to WATER LOSS ASIA : The need for NRW management in general, and in Asia in particular, is so obvious that it is hard to understand why efforts to improve the situation have been so limited. There are, however, a few successful examples of utilities reducing NRW to below 20% (e.g. Singapore, Osaka, Manila [East Zone])(see illustration on right) and some places where serious actions have at least started. However, the vast majority of water utilities in Asia are not engaging in serious and professional NRW management. For many cities, reducing NRW should be the first option to pursue when addressing low service coverage levels and increased demand for piped water supply. Expanding water networks without addressing water losses will only lead to a cycle of waste and inefficiency. Malaysia's NRW average is at 35% as of 2019. The aim is to reduce it to 31% this year. In 2017 the target was to reduce it by 25% come 2020.  What ails the Water Supply Services in Mal