Water crisis: Multi-disciplinary approach needed - Khairiah

Malaysia needs a long term multi-disciplinary approach in tackling the current water crisis in order for it s not to get out of hand.

Khairiah Mohd Talha, a board member of the Federal Department of Town and Country Planning, said among the things that needed to be done, is to relook at the urban planning system in order to have a more properly organised water management system.

Khairiah said efficient urban planning is especially essential now, with the current water crisis, said to be the worst ever that has hit the Klang Valley.

"Under the National Physical Plan (NPP), a plan to meet economic, physical environment and other growth, the initial estimate of urban population in Peninsula Malaysia was 70 per cent by 2020.

"This plan has projected among others, domestic, commercial and industrial water needs by that time so that utility providers can plan ahead with things like where to build new dams and reservoirs.

"If this plan is adhered to, needs would be met. However, some unexpected factors are not included in the plan namely huge population growth and climate change," she told Astro AWANI.

Khairiah said currently, the urban population has reached 75 per cent and such huge population growth, has a direct effect of the water demand and supply chain.

She explained that there is a huge population growth in areas such as the Klang Valley, Selangor, Penang and Johor due to investors going to the areas and migration.

"The unique thing about water is, it depends on weather and one of the major cause of water crisis apart from inefficient urban planning, is climate change.

"With climate change, we can expect extreme weathers, extreme calamities. These things were not facted in to meet future demands. There has been no emphasis on adopting and mitigating climate change.

"On one end, there is a huge growth and on the other end, there is climate change," she said.

She added due to man's intervention to cut down trees, there is also a phenomenon called 'urban heat islands' in cities, where heat rises and causes rain only in cities and not in water catchment areas.

Khairiah said, climate change is inevitable but some measures could be taken to deal with it.

"For example, some countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United States, have holistic water resource management.

"In Malaysia, Green technology is fairly young but we need a multi-disciplinary approach for water management as we are rich in water but it just does not get into our taps," she said.

She said the multi-disciplinary approach should not only involve ministries but also agencies, developers, utility providers and consumers.

"Urban planners have to properly plan. They have to conserve what we have and add more to it. Do not build over rivers and streams.

"Do not destroy what we have in the name of development.

"Decision makers have to be committed to sustainable development," she said.

She said in Malaysia, most water consumption goes to industrial production and domestic usage.

She added while there is nothing that we can do about industrial production, we all can play a role in reducing household water consumption.

"According to figures released in 2010, Malaysians consume too much water. A Malaysian consume 328 litres of water per person, per day. Compare this to Singapore, a Singaporean only consumes 156 litres of water per person, per day.

"Malaysians are in a comfort zone. They refuse to change. We have to get down our water consumption to at least Singapore's level. If we do that, there will still be lots of water left in our dams," she said.