Malaysia’s `fortune’ dries up in the face of water crisis

In several states, water levels at dams have reached almost critical levels. Experts say the heavy rains predicted for April may not come and the drought in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and other west coast states could stretch until October. The situation is blamed on the effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon, which is expected to last until June. But El Nino is not the sole culprit. “Our priorities have been on the wrong things,” said activist Jubal Lourdes. “We have the Twin Towers and all these sophisticated projects, but we haven’t made any contingency plans to deal with a shortage of water, which is a basic necessity.”

Environmentalists say 10 years of bulldozing forests and chopping trees has taken its toll. Hills are stripped bare for housing projects, forests logged, and jungles cleared for projects like golf courses. “The cutting of trees has affected water catchment areas,” said Lourdes.

In Kelantan on the east coast of the peninsula, the ruling Islamic Party said the water shortage would not have caused so much trouble if the government had approved 70 million US dollars in loans for a dam. A national water resources study in 1982 revealed that only 10 per cent of Malaysia’s annual rainfall of 990 billion cubic metres is available for use. It warned that large areas of the peninsula’s west coast have high water stress.

Weather, deforestation, industry and high population densities had affected water quality and quantity.

Poor maintenance of pipes has led to high water losses. Urban consumers waste more water than their rural counterparts, and their consumption of 200 litres daily is about four times more.