FACULTY OF CIVIL ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSIEN ONN MALAYSIA

“The suitable alternative water sources to be proposed in Malaysia”

GROUP MEMBERS : 1. Wan Muhammad Faiz Bin Wan Norrain (AF170139)

2. Zulkefli Bin Mohd Seth (AF170202)
3. Wan Alisa Nazira Bt. Wan Ab Rahman (AF170188)
4. Zuliani Binti Abdul Mutalib (AF170091)

LECTURER NAME : Prof. Ir. Dr. Amir Hashim Bin Mohd Kassim
SECTION :1
CODE SUBJECT : BFC32002
SUBJECT : Hydrology
SESSION : 2019/2020
SEMESTER :1
1.0 INTRODUCTION

Water are perhaps the most important resource on earth for human beings and all
other living creatures. Our life revolves around water, and enough clean water is
necessary for our healthy living and environmental health.

Approximately 97% of our supply of raw water for agricultural, domestic and
industrial needs is extracted mainly from rivers from surface water sources. There are
189 river basins in Malaysia – 89 in Peninsular Malaysia, 78 in Sabah and 22 in
Sarawak. All the rivers come from the highlands and run from them.

The use of a range of water sources increases water supply safety in an uncertain
future. Use alternative water sources needs to be safe, meet regulatory and
environmental standards, and reflect community expectations.

Alternative sources of water can be made available to preserve valuable green

community resources, particularly in terms of climate change and population growth.

Alternative sources of water include the roof rainwater, storm water, treated sewage,
or graywater. The use of these offers our society a range of benefits.

Alternative sources of water must be managed to meet public health, environmental

standards and expectations of the community.
2.0 WATER ISSUE IN MALAYSIA

Water Security in Malaysia is a national issue. The Malaysian water services industry
faces issues, which need to be tackled immediately for it to be viable and sustainable.
The water management system in Malaysia employs and depends heavily on the water
supply management approach to cater to demand. This approach is unsustainable in
the long run as water demand will eventually overtake water supply. The greater the
demand, the more water has to be supplied so more structures like dams, water
treatment plants and water distribution pipes need to be built. Where will it end?
Supply and demand-side management has to be integrated. In addition, there is a need
to look at water wastage and rates to change the appalling consumptive behavior of
most Malaysians towards water.

Next, the institutional water issues. Malaysia lacks a central agency to manage the
overall aspects of water resources management. Too many agencies have jurisdiction
over different aspects of water management, leading to sectoral management of water
and conflicting or competing objectives. Rates of water wastage in domestic,
industrial and agricultural use are very high and this is unsustainable in the long term.
Compared to other countries, Malaysia uses and wastes too much water.

Globally and locally, the climate and weather are changing and this is affecting water
resources. For example, the 1998 El Nino brought severe drought resulting in water
crises in many parts of Malaysia. Water planning in Malaysia does not adequately
take into account changes in weather patterns. In 1998, an El Nino related drought
also caused severe water stress in Kedah and Penang, but caused severe water
rationing in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya for many months. (N. W. Chan,2009)

Rates of NRW in Malaysia are much too high with the national average being 40%.
This equals a loss of 40 litres out of every 100 litres of treated water. If Malaysia can
reduce the NRW losses to a minimum, the building of new dams could be delayed.
Beside, most legislation relating to water is outdated and needs to be reviewed in
today’s context. Many existing laws are also not comprehensive enough and do not
deal directly with water issues. The recently approved Water Services Industry Act
and National Water Services Commission Act provide some progress towards
strengthening water resources management. However, their scope is limited to matters
concerning regulation of the water services industry involving mainly the treatment
and distribution of water supply.

3.0 WAYS TO OVERCOME

The alternative water sources that suitable to be proposed in Malaysia are flood
mitigation programme. Despite changes in climate trigger flood, rapid urbanization
and industrialization in the country can also contribute to flooding if the systematic
and satisfactory drainage system are not put into the place. In this case, the Drainage
and Flood Mitigation Division of the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID)
have introduced the Urban Storm-water Management Manual in 2000 where it
concept through the construction of the swale, custody and confinement ponds in the
new development schemes to hold the runoff from going into the waterways. In order
to succeed it required planning and application that is persistent throughout the local,
state and federal administration to assure that all of its objectives are achieved.

Other than that, rainwater harvesting are one of the alternative water source that
suitable to be proposed in Malaysia. This rainwater has potential to solve water
problems in Malaysia specifically shortage of water and excess of water. To achieve
this alternative, it need to reduce the national demand for water supply as well as
mitigate the flood risks by easing the flow into the storm water management grid.

Institutional reform is one of the alternative water sources that suitable to be proposed
in Malaysia. In 2004, it has been witnessed a major reconstruct in the water service
sector in the country. The State Government inspired to achieve a specific water
resources managements measure that assure integrated management over water
industry and this state has taken some action in managing water for sustainable
developments. In 2000, Selangor Water Management Authority has authorized to
improve the management of water catchments within its four local authorities.
4.0 CONCLUSION

Our water resources, irregularly distributed in space and time, are under pressure due
to major population change and increased demand. Access to reliable data on the
availability, quality and quantity of water and its variability, form the necessary
foundation for sound management of water resources. The different options for
augmentation expand the boundaries of the water resource in a conventional sense,
helping to match demand and supply. All components of the hydrological cycle and
the influence of human activities on it, need to be understood and quantified to
efficiently and sustainably develop and protect our water resources.

Based on our study, we state that the cause of the issue of the water sources in
malaysia are The water management system in Malaysia employs and depends
heavily on the water supply management approach to cater to demand. Due to greater
demand, more water has to be supplied so more structures like dams, water treatment
plants and water distribution pipes need to be built. Second, lacks a central agency to
manage the overall aspects of water resources management, that can cause the rates of
water wastage in domestic, industrial and agricultural use are very high and this is
unsustainable in the long term. Third, Globally and locally, the climate and weather
are changing and this is affecting water resources. Last, rates of NRW in Malaysia are
much too high with the national average being 40%.

We also show the alternative to handle this problem such as flood mitigation
programme, where it concept through the construction of the swale, custody and
confinement ponds in the new development schemes to hold the runoff from going
into the waterways. Second, rainwater harvesting which reduce the national demand
for water supply as well as mitigate the flood risks by easing the flow into the storm
water management grid. Lastly, Institutional reform is suitable to perform in our
country.

In conclusion, the alternative water sources is very suitable to be proposed in

Malaysia due to many issue that occur nowadays.
5.0 REFERENCES

Abdullah, S. (2012). “Water Resource Users in Malaysia – Issues and Challenges” .

Chan, N. W. (2009). Issues and challenges in water governance in Malaysia. Iranian

Journal of Environmental Health Science & Engineering.

Hock, D. I. (200). State of WaterResources State of Water Resources in Malaysia.

“Water Environment Partnership in Asia (WEPA)”.

M A Malek, M. A. (2013). Water security and its challenges for Malaysia. 4th
International Conference on Energy and Environment.