MUHAMMAD HAKIMI BIN MD RUSDI

2015218568
EC2206A1
ECW566

HOW TO SOLVE THE WATER SHORTAGE?

There are a few solutions for dealing with water crisis in Malaysia. Better public and
community control of water utilities; repairing old water systems, using less water for
agriculture by using drip irrigation, stopping polluting the water, increasing water conservation
and focusing resources on watershed management are a few steps to minimise the water crisis.
At the same time, the government should strengthen the laws especially to enforce effluent
standards. The technical and human resources currently available to the boards are inadequate
to effectively monitor activities, enforce regulations and convict violators.

Cloud seeding has also been introduced as a solution to water shortages. In cloud
seeding, tiny crystals of silver iodide are sprinkled over clouds to promote moisture circulating
in the clouds. Controversies surrounding cloud seeding revolve around the excessive costs and
the lack of conclusive evidence that it is truly effective. In the heat of the dry season when the
dry conditions are felt the hardest, the issue of cloud seeding may be a moot point since no
clouds to seed.

To cross-out this issue, many lessons have been learnt throughout the world in recent
years regarding best-practice in water resources management. Perhaps we should take cue from
our neighbour Singapore which has very limited water resources, and because of water scarcity,
the city state treasures every drop of its water. In addition to man-made lakes to hold freshwater
and rainwater collection, Singapore also treats recycled water. To the Singapore government,
water is one vital prerequisite to ensure its sustained existence and as such, the country will do
everything to save and store potable water.

As water resources are becoming increasingly scarce, Malaysians need to exercise more
control over their water consumption. Citizens must be taught the value of water and how to
use water wisely. That’s means we need to educate people through education, campaigns and
the mass media to actively participate in finding and implementing solutions so they do not
waste water easily because water resources are essential assets for life and good health. Thus,
effectively managing and leveraging them is an urgent and growing need. In short, as
governments and community organizations make it a priority to deliver adequate supplies of
quality water to people, individuals can help by learning how to conserve and protect the
resource in their daily lives.

Strong support from the government and administrative leadership is required to ensure
that the necessary information base and expertise are made available in time of need. An inter-
agency initiative with private sector participation should be encouraged to get better
understanding of this issue. In addition, our water tariff rate is lowest in region, therefore tariffs
should be based on usage and not on a stepped basis, the more you use the more you pay. In
Singapore, a growing annual water demand of 9% was reduced to almost nil by a campaign of
tariff hikes over a two year period In addition, an incentive or directive from the government
is necessary to encouraged the developers and renovators to fix water saving devices.
Moreover, tax exemption for the devices is also helpful, half-flush toilets and low-flow shower
heads are good examples .With all such efforts, strong commitment from government, sensitive
planning in the future and undoing at least some of the damage of the past, we hope the
sustainability of our water resources can be achieved.

From government side, the development of water resources for the country involving
62 major water projects, including new dams, raising existing ones, new treatment plants, inter-
state water transfer and identifying catchments area for development. The large dams among
them include the Temenggor Dam in Perak, the Kenyir Dam in Terengganu and the Pedu Dam
in Kedah, whose combined Storage capacity, exceeds 20,000 million cubic metres . Rainwater
harvesting is another alternative way of reducing the pressure of building the more dams.
Malaysia with more than enough quantity of rain annually should be able to harvest it into
storage ponds, perhaps in more urban area. The house owner can installed tanks and collects
from the gutter, if they have a garden even a small area may help a lot .

Last but not least, establishment and implement regulations and carry out monitoring
and enforcement on allocations and utilisation of water resources, protection and conservation
of river is vital. Thus, current laws and regulations needs to be adjusted where appropriate to
better protect existing water sources. Moreover, the formulation of a National Water Resources
Policy to guide the development of water sector strategies should be given top priority.
Currently, there is no formal policy for integrated river basin management. The policy should
support integrated river basin approaches, provide guidance on enhanced priorities, support
demand management and conservation and ensure appropriate allocations for
environmental/ecosystem needs. It should also guide decentralisation, sharing between states,
stakeholder’s involvement, incentive measures and capacity building. Appropriate policies and
legislation at the state level should be developed to complement and facilitate implementation
of the national policy.