Leaky pipes and murky water: Solving Malaysia's water woes | The ...

LANGKAWI, Malaysia – Residents of Wang Tok Rendong village, about half an hour’s drive from posh hotels on the resort island of Langkawi, patiently wait each day for the water truck to rumble up their road.

The arrival of the truck, which delivers water to each house in the village, is greatly anticipated by the villagers who have been facing daily interruptions to their running water, particularly since January 2024.

Under the glare of a hot midday sun in March, travel agent Norhasmiza Hamid, 39, turned on a water tap at the side of her house to the maximum to show this reporter the slow trickle of water.

“There is very little water, and it is actually coming from my newly installed water tank and pump. If you don’t have a water tank or pump at home, there is no water,” she said. The water in the water tank comes from the water truck.

Langkawi, one of Malaysia’s top tourist destinations and located in Kedah state, has been facing a water crisis in the last two years, according to some residents like Madam Norhasmiza, who says there has been no regular piped water supply for this period. Some residents say water disruptions worsened from January 2024 while officials say such disruptions began only at end-January.

While it is unclear when exactly the water crisis began, some areas are impacted more than others, and at least 30,000 residents are reported to have had no proper running water supply for the past year.

Langkawi’s problem, however, is not isolated. Several major population centres around the country also lack water security because of long-term issues that the current government under Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is now trying to address.

Langkawi’s water crisis is happening because of leaky pipes and El Nino.

Langkawi consumes 46.34 million litres per day of treated water on average as of March 2024, with a local population of 120,000 residents.

The holiday island was also visited by 2.8 million tourists in 2023.

The undersea pipe, which was laid in the late 1990s when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister, is in need of repairs. Energy Transition and Water Transformation Deputy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said on May 22 that 32 million litres from the total 62 million litres per day pumped from the mainland is not reaching the island.

According to the latest figures on Malaysia’s National Water Services Commission (Span) website, the water level at the Malut dam was at “danger level” as of June 4, at 28.6 per cent. But the water level at the Padang Saga dam has risen from 34.83 per cent in April to 68.87 per cent.

A water level of 29.99 per cent and below is classified as “danger level”, while one that ranges from 30 per cent to 59.99 per cent is described as “warning level”. A normal level is one that is 60 per cent and above.

In a statement on Feb 5, Kedah water company Syarikat Air Darul Aman (Sada) said the island’s major rivers have dried up significantly, preventing water treatment plants from functioning at normal capacity, and threatening water supply.

As a result, there is almost no piped water supply in some areas. Water trucks are forced to make daily trips around the island to deliver the precious commodity. Some days, the trucks don’t make deliveries, such as during Hari Raya in 2024, leaving residents high and dry.

The island’s hotels, though, appear to be mostly unaffected by water shortages. But if they do face problems, they ask for water trucks to come by.

Langkawi residents say the water supply issues mostly occur in the places where they live, such as small villages or in Kuah, the island’s biggest town.

While hotels still have running water, it is murky.

Many Langkawi hoteliers have been forced to invest in water filters to ensure the water is safe, and to avert complaints from their guests.

“We started having problems with water (in 2024). We have a lot of yellowish water,” Frangipani Langkawi Resort and Spa general manager Ahmad Shazli Abd Ghafer told The Straits Times.

The hotel has installed indoor filters in guest rooms and outdoor filters too.

If the water is not filtered, it would be the colour of “teh tarik” or milk tea, he added.

When asked by ST, the Kedah chapter of the Malaysian Association of Hotels declined to comment beyond confirming that some Langkawi hotels are facing water issues and that Sada provides them with water tankers.

The association also showed ST a Feb 15, 2024 letter that said Sada was implementing measures to resolve the issues.

Among Sada’s short-term measures are the delivery of water using lorries, activating a pump at the Malut dam to boost capacity and repairing the undersea pipeline.

Long-term measures include the construction of a new water treatment plant on the island, and a programme to cut down non-revenue water or water lost through leaking pipes, theft or other factors.

The regular water disruptions and the sight of water trucks are not limited to Langkawi.

Hoteliers on another resort island, Pangkor in northern Perak state, said in February 2024 they were suffering losses following water supply problems, with tourists cancelling their vacations.

Several other Malaysian states, including major population centres in Kelantan, Penang and Sabah, suffer from the lack of water security, which the 18-month-old Anwar government has vowed to overcome.

Large swathes of Klang Valley, comprising the capital city of Kuala Lumpur and districts in the state of Selangor, were also hit by a scheduled water disruption from June 5 to 7, due to maintenance and replacement works at Sungai Selangor. Even the National Palace was on the list of places affected.

The lack of water security is caused partly by the way the Malaysian federation is set up: Under the Constitution, the issues of land, water and Islam come under the jurisdiction of the state governments and state rulers, not the federal government.

In matters concerning water, the federal government can only intervene in water management issues or invest in a state’s infrastructure with the consent of the state government.

Moreover, several states with water problems are governed by political parties which are in opposition at the federal level, such as Kelantan and Kedah. This political situation can become a stumbling block for the federal and state governments to work together to resolve the matter.

The federal government, too, cannot intervene when two states fight over water resources, as has happened occasionally between Kedah (ruled by Perikatan Nasional, an opposition alliance at the federal level) and the neighbouring state that relies on Kedah for much of its water, Penang (governed by Pakatan Harapan, the ruling coalition at the federal level).

It would help if the state government and the federal government are on better terms. They can sit down to discuss this and find a solution.

Nevertheless, federal-state cooperation to resolve water problems has been improving over the last couple of decades, as both sides accept that the federal government has deeper expertise and financial resources to help the states.

The federal government drafted and passed new federal laws in 2006 with the agreement of state governments. These allowed the setting up of federal water management companies and agencies which then work closely with the state governments on their water issues.

There is Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad (Paab), a federal company under the Ministry of Finance, which manages Malaysia’s water assets by working closely with the state governments, including sourcing for financing.

Formed in 2006, Paab is tasked with restructuring water services in Peninsular Malaysia and the federal territory of Labuan, an island off Borneo.

The federal agency, Span, is a technical and economic regulatory body formed in 2008 to improve water supply and sewerage services in Peninsular Malaysia and the federal territories of Putrajaya and Labuan.

There is unequal access to safe water across Malaysia.

Getting water to taps at homes, in offices and factories involves the development and management of reservoirs, dams and rivers, along with water treatment plants and thousands of kilometres of mostly underground pipes.

For example, Air Selangor, which supplies water to Malaysia’s most industrialised state Selangor as well as KL and the administrative capital Putrajaya, must worry about 34 water treatment plants, eight dams and more than 30,000km of distribution pipes.

Nationwide, the water services industry serves over 7.5 million accounts, both homes and businesses, and administers 135,975km of pipes in Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan as of 2022.

While cooperation between federal and state governments has improved, issues remain that affect the water security of Malaysians.

Associate Professor Mohamad Faiz Mohd Amin of Universiti Malaysia Kelantan told ST: “The jurisdictional governance of water under state authorities significantly impacts the water situation in Malaysia.”

The specialist on the effects of global warming on water added: “This framework can lead to discrepancies in policy implementation, funding allocation and operational efficiency across states.”

The result? Varying standards of water resource management and infrastructure development, as well as conflict between states, potentially leaving millions without adequate access to clean water.

Because of the unreliable quality of water that comes through the taps at home, many Malaysians install either outdoor water filters in their gardens or indoor water filters at the kitchen sink. Some landed homes have both types.

Research manager Low Kit Wei, 42, from Puchong in Selangor, has an indoor water filter. She feels that tap water is not safe for direct consumption due to impurities. “Occasionally, there is a chemical smell, especially after water disruptions,” she said.

Ms Yong Choy Peng, 47, also uses an indoor water filter in her landed home in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

“When it is time to change the filter and we see inside the filter, it is very scary. There is murky, brown, and dirty water around the filter. Imagine if we didn’t use a filter,” said the blogger.

We feel the filter is a necessity for the family’s health.

Household water tariffs differ significantly between states, creating unequal access to safe water.

For instance, the first 20 cubic m of water is provided free in the central state of Selangor, while in eastern Kelantan, consumers have to pay about RM8 (S$2.30) for the first 35 cubic m.

States with a lower collection of revenue may struggle to invest in essential water treatment facilities, leading to higher risks of contamination and lower water quality.

Then there is the decades-old unsolved problem of non-revenue water (NRW).

NRW refers to treated water piped from a treatment plant that does not reach the consumer.

It could be due to leaking underground pipes, or the theft of water through illegal piping systems to supply squatter villages and construction sites. There could also be a problem with metering inaccuracies, as meters installed at individual premises may fail to work properly.

Malaysia consumes 237 litres of water per capita per day, according to Span.

The latest available data shows that Malaysia’s total treated water production capacity is approximately 17,000 million litres per day as of 2023.

But on average, more than a third, or 37.2 per cent, of the country’s treated water output is classified as NRW, with total losses estimated at RM2 billion a year, according to Malaysia’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad in March 2023.

The average global NRW rate in 2019 stood at 30 per cent.

According to Span, the NRW rate is 7.8 per cent in Singapore, 8.5 per cent in Cambodia and 33.7 per cent in Indonesia.

The national average rate for NRW for Malaysia is 37.2 per cent, but it can go up to 50 per cent in some states.

Datuk Seri Mukhriz, the ex-Kedah Menteri Besar, said that Langkawi’s undersea pipe from the mainland has been damaged many times and that the rate of water leakage is very high.

“At the state level, we have a serious problem with non-revenue water. I think Kedah has among the highest NRW,” he said. “For every 100 litres of water you produce, only 50 litres actually get to the people. There is not enough focus on repairing (the pipe) or reducing NRW. I know it’s costly but I think it’s worth it,” he said.

Kedah Menteri Besar Sanusi Md Nor said: “We are not ruling out the possibility that the pipeline is beyond repair as there are 23 leaking spots.”

“The current repair work on the leaking pipeline is being funded by the RM50 million loan obtained from the federal government,” he was quoted as saying on April 17 by New Straits Times. “If the amount is insufficient based on the final findings by the consultant, we will apply for an additional loan from the federal government.”

According to Span, some pipelines in Malaysia date back to the British colonial era which ended in 1957. There are 39,000km of old asbestos cement water pipes in Peninsular Malaysia, some of which urgently need replacing.

Indeed, Paab chairman Datuk Seri Jaseni Maidinsa said that most NRW problems are due to old asbestos cement (AC) pipes.

“In Malaysia, most states have thousands of kilometres of AC pipes, so Paab will assist these states in replacing the pipes to reduce NRW,” he said on March 6.

He said Paab would implement water treatment plant projects in Kelantan, Perlis, Kedah and Pahang to reduce the high rates of NRW in these four states.

Malaysia is hoping to reduce its NRW to 25 per cent by 2025, but this will require substantial investment in water infrastructure, estimated at RM1.4 billion, said Prof Faiz. This will cover pipe replacement and rehabilitation, upgrading the metering infrastructure and pressure management.

Prof Faiz said the problems experienced by Malaysians, from water disruptions to murky water, stem not just from the ongoing El Nino dry weather phenomenon, but also from infrastructure problems and increasing water losses.

Efforts to address Malaysia’s water loss problem must include upgrading pipelines, improving meters and implementing water management technologies.

“These efforts are, I believe, crucial to strengthening water security and ensuring its sustainable management, particularly in vulnerable areas affected by climate variability and lack of infrastructure,” he said.

The government needs to spend more to ensure water security.

“A big chunk of the problem is ageing equipment, ageing infrastructure, lack of maintenance and the financial viability of operators,” Span chairman Charles Santiago told ST on Jan 12.

“What we need to do is pump more money into infrastructure development, and take the issue of the water industry seriously.”

He added that the federal government should commit to spending RM10 billion every year to upgrade the water infrastructure for three or four years. “After that, you will have a certain level of assurance and security,” he said.

In February 2024, Malaysia increased water tariffs.

The Anwar administration is trying to move faster to resolve the decades-old issues.

In February 2024, Malaysia hiked water tariffs in order to raise revenue for new water treatment plants and to fix leaky pipes.

Span said in a statement on Jan 17 that domestic households would see an average increase of RM3 a month in their water bills.

It also encouraged water supply operators in 11 of the country’s 13 states to provide rebates for lower-income families. Sabah and Sarawak states, which have autonomy over their own water management, including water tariffs, were excluded from the Feb 1 tariff hike.

Potable water is sold at different prices in various Malaysian states, with the average tariff charged to households at RM1.43 per cubic m on Dec 31, 2022.

The new water tariffs involve an average increase of 22 Malaysian sen per cubic m to an average tariff of RM1.65 per cubic m.

Span said the rates would be reviewed every three years.

Some states have not reviewed their water tariffs for 40 years, as public complaints often spike when higher water rates are announced.

But Span said it could no longer delay the tariff hike in order “to ensure long-term sustainability of the water supply industry”. It underlined that even with the tariff increase, revenues will not cover the cost – at RM1.75 per cubic m in 2022 – of providing water.

The Span chief said in April that water should be made a national security priority.

Mr Santiago noted that the National Water Resource Study, conducted for the government in 1999, predicted that water demand in Malaysia would increase by 103 per cent by 2050 from around 1999. This is a rise that the current network cannot cope with.

The country would require sizeable infrastructure capital investments to cater for the projected demand, he said.

In the south, water needs are rising in the state of Johor, which is planning a special economic zone with Singapore. Water demand in the state is at 1,909 million litres per day.

Malaysian PM Anwar, in a joint news conference at the annual bilateral retreat in Singapore with then PM Lee Hsien Loong in October 2023, said: “We have to honour the commitment and the supply of water from Johor to Singapore, and we will have to work jointly to ensure that Johor will be able to enhance the capacity to supply both for Johor’s needs, which are also expanding, and for Singapore."

Malaysia has an agreement to supply water to Singapore until 2061.

Meanwhile, back in Langkawi, the Langkawi Business Association has proposed more sustainable water practices, from rainwater harvesting to recycling of waste water.

Mr Irshad Mobarak, a prominent naturalist who has been based in Langkawi for over three decades, is calling for sustainable development on the island, which has seen an increased growth in the tourism sector over the years.

“In the race to attract tourism here, we should not lose sight of the need to carefully plan and protect the island,” he told ST.

As for Madam Norhasmiza, even though she now has a water tank and pump, she will not give up the crusade for her village to have a regular piped water supply. Her advocacy includes talking to the media and knocking on Sada’s door. Her efforts have led to the Span chief visiting her in Langkawi recently.

“Even if the water truck comes to deliver water, it is not enough for families to use for 24 hours if they don’t have a large tank. They may be able to use it for 12 hours if they don’t have a big family,” she noted.

“I will fight for my village, for the people of my village, to have water.”

In June, two months after ST’s visit to Langkawi, the situation in her village remained unchanged, she said. The town of Kuah has reportedly not had water for days, with irate residents hunting for water trucks around the island.

In a move which could finally address the long-suffering islanders’ water crisis, Kedah Menteri Besar Sanusi said on June 2 that a decision had been made to build an underground dam in Langkawi following a study conducted by federal government agencies.