NRW - What Ails the Water Supply Services Sector in Malaysia?

-
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 Malaysia? 

One professional weighs in:
The Malaysian leaky pipe story, published in the Malaysian Reserve; February 3, 2020

"Previously, all efforts to replace the pipes were done piece-meal under the jurisdiction of different states. It has not been effective so far as not all the state governments have dedicated teams and resources to perform these tasks.

A concerted effort to just replace the AC pipes will result in the completion of the task nationwide, faster and at lower costs. This was successfully practised in Japan and all AC pipes were replaced within 20 years." more....

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Water Pollution - Malaysia

-
Image
Water pollution is a serious problem in Malaysia. It reduces total water availability considerably. Cost of treating polluted waters increases and some polluted waters are not treatable for human consumption. Urbanization within our river catchments gives rise to an increase in population and urban life activities.  Land development increases run-off  within  a  catchment,  which  in  turn  affects  the  water  quality  of  receiving  waters. Rainfall in urbanized areas washes down contaminants accumulated on land surfaces into storm water facilities.  The main point sources identified are household sullage, sewage treatment plant and industrial area. Besides these, there are other point sources polluting the river basin such as market, restaurant, workshop, resi-dential area, solid waste disposal sites, soil and sand sourcing, new development area, aquaculture, com-mercial lots, petrol station, livestock and others. The Department of Environment (DOE) maintains records of
Read more

Malaysia’s Water Supply Restructuring: A Ten-Year Scorecard

-
By Olivia Jensen: Olivia Jensen is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Water Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.   15 March 2017 In the early 2000s, water supply was a looming problem for Malaysia. The country’s rapid development in the preceding two decades had driven an increase in the demand for water, especially in the main economic centres of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, and Johor in the south. Water supply and sanitation infrastructure, however, had failed to keep pace and restrictions on water supplies in the capital region were imminent. At the time, the water sector was an organisational, institutional and policy patchwork and financially unsustainable. Tariffs, efficiency and quality of service differed hugely across the country. The states had built up debts to the federal government which they were unable to service. Some states had also signed bulk water supply and concession contracts with private companies
Read more

Impact of climate change on food security in Malaysia: economic and policy adjustments for rice industry

-
Image
Research articles Negin VaghefiFaculty of Environmental Studies, Department of Environmental Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia Correspondence: negin.vaghefi@gmail.com ,Mad Nasir Shamsudin,Alias Radam &Khalid Abdul Rahim Pages 19-35 | Received 13 Mar 2015, Accepted 21 Oct 2015, Published online: 03 Dec 2015 Image from ASEAN Post: Deforestation, pollution and resource degradation are increasing ASEAN’s vulnerability to natural and human-induced disasters, derived from climate changes. In view of this matter, ASEAN needs to find solutions to adapt to climate change in building a resilient ASEAN; Climate change dilemma driven by urbanisation;by Rebecca Shamasundari ; 26 August 2017 Rice paddies production in Malaysia, as in other parts of the world, is extremely vulnerable to weather changes and extreme conditions such as drought and flooding. Such situations forced Malaysia to maintain a protectionist regime with respect to its rice industry to be
Read more