M’sia lost nearly 2 trillion litres of water in 2012

M’sia lost nearly 2 trillion litres of water in 2012

Wednesday, November 13, 2013 – 10:26

Patrick Lee

The Star/Asia News Network

PETALING JAYA – Leaky, ageing pipes are taking a huge toll on the country, with close to two trillion litres of treated water lost to seepage, poor water quality and frequent disruptions at the consumer end. And it’s going to get worse. Much of the problem lies in the 43,890km of ageing pipes around the country. Made of asbestos-cement (AC), these pipes were installed in vast numbers decades ago.They have a lifespan of 30 years and many have outlived their usefulness or are getting there.

Last year alone, nearly two trillion litres of treated water were lost.

The non-revenue water (NRW) was more than a third of all treated water pumped out of plants in 2012 – enough to supply every family in the country with water for 189 days, or fill 797,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The leakage forced water operators to pump more through the pipes to meet demand.

“An interruption of water supply for frequent pipe burst and repairs can cause low water pressure for consumers as well as affect water quality,” said Malaysian Water Association council member Hai­ri Basri.

In 2012, the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) found that of the 1.994 trillion litres of water was lost, and 3.479 trillion litres reached people’s taps – an NRW level of 36.4 per cent.

Hairi said: “We can’t be proud of an industry that lost 36.4 per cent of its final product before it could reach consumers.”

SPAN executive director (Water Regulatory Department) Marzuki Mohammad said the installing of AC pipes was stopped in the early 90s and the country’s pipes need to be changed.

Modern day water distributors use copper, stainless steel or ductile iron pipes.

“If replacement does not keep pace with the deterioration of the pipes, leakages and NRW will keep rising with water suppliers suffering more losses,” he said.

It shows in SPAN’s numbers. In 2011, a total of 1.939 trillion litres were lost. Last year, it was 1.994 trillion – a staggering 55 billion litres more.

There was a burst pipe, breakage or leak reported every 84 seconds in Malaysia last year, amounting to 376,159 complaints in total.

The number of unscheduled water disruption also rose from 214,270 in 2011 to 238,542 in 2012.

Billions of ringgit and 20 years needed to replace pipes

Wednesday, November 13, 2013 – 10:08

The Star/Asia News Network

PETALING JAYA – It might take Malaysia 20 years to replace all of its ageing pipes with better ones.

According to Malaysian Water Association president Syed Mohamed Adnan Alhabshi, billions of ringgit needed to be spent to fix over 40,000km of pipes.

“First you have to identify the pipes, then you have to award the contracts and then construct the specific pipes. All of these takes years,” he said.

He said that the standard was to replace asbestos-cement (AC) pipes with steel ones.

However, he added that developed countries were moving from this to the better ductile-iron pipes.

Marzuki Mohammad, the executive director (Water Regulatory Department) of the National Water Services Commission’s (SPAN) said changing pipes required a lot of money, adding that it was easier said than done.

He said state governments were hindered by low water tariffs and were already losing money.

“The current low rates do not encourage investments in upgrading of the water supply system,” he said.

Last year, operators nationwide had a total deficit of RM380.5 million (S$148 million) .

Marzuki said to plug this, the Federal Government formed the Water Asset Management Company (PAAB) to take over state water assets. In return, PAAB provide capital for replacement works and charge lease from water operators.

So far, six states have agreed to PAAB taking over their assets – Johor, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Perlis, Perak and Penang.

In the first three years of handing their assets over, PAAB assigned Johor, Malacca and Negri Sembilan RM162 million , RM148.15 million and RM90 million, respectively, which resulted in pipes being replaced and water saved.

“PAAB funding is the only way to address the financial issues faced by the operators in investing in upgrading the systems,” Marzuki said.

He said SPAN targeted a national NRW of 25 per cent by 2020.

It is estimated that water operators nationwide lost at least RM618 million in revenue last year alone due to NRW.