Page 1 Motorola to invest RM3.

3m on water recycling New Straits Times (Malaysia) May 21, 1998 Hardware
New Straits Times (Malaysia) May 21, 1998

Motorola to invest RM3.3m on water recycling

SECTION: Business; Pg. 17 LENGTH: 164 words MOTOROLA Malaysia Sdn Bhd is investing RM3.3 million on the first phase of its wastewater recycling project which will be using the latest "membrane technology". The project, in which Motorola will recycle up to 40 per cent of current water usage from its plants, will involve a total investment of RM5 million. The entire project will be carried out in two phases. The first phase, which is scheduled to be completed in July, will enable Motorola to recycle water equivalent to the daily water consumption of 1,400 households. "We already have in place a water conservation plan which helps us to reduce daily consumption. "We feel that more can be done especially in the light of the current water shortage the country is facing," managing director J.A. Lew said in a statement. Using membrane technology for recycling water is still relatively new to Malaysia. Submicron filters not only remove impurities but also bacteria and viruses from water.

LOAD-DATE: April 7, 1999 LANGUAGE: ENGLISH Copyright 1998 New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad

Page 2 Managing demand for water New Straits Times (Malaysia) February 29, 2000
New Straits Times (Malaysia) February 29, 2000

Managing demand for water

BYLINE: By Sarah Sabaratnam SECTION: Earth matters; Pg. 5 LENGTH: 1675 words ALTHOUGH a Malaysian has access to more than 20 times the water available to someone in Yemen, history shows that our water resources are limited and vulnerable. Some of the warnings of how water in Malaysia is no longer plentiful and clean are: the water crisis that affected 1.8 million households; the February 1998 oil spill in Sungai Dua, Penang; the detection of ammonia in the Langat River in 1997 and in 1998; and the 1991 Durian Tunggal episode (the dam dried up). At the global level, the UN Committee on Natural Resources reported that 80 countries, or 40 per cent of the world's population, are already experiencing serious water shortages. By 2025, two out of every three people will live under limited fresh water resources. Two billion will suffer acute shortage. While water is a finite source, the demand for water is ever increasing. The national demand for water has increased from 756 million litres per day (mld) in 1970 to 8,500 mld in 1998. The National Water Resources Study 2000-2050 projects that water demand for Malaysia between 2010 and 2050 will be twice the population growth rate. Malaysians also use too much water. International standards recommend that each person has at least 165 litres per day (lpd). Yet the average Malaysian uses 200-250 lpd, compared to the average Briton (150 lpd). Given these facts, simply managing the supply is not enough. Global Environment Centre's coordinator Faizal Parish says: "If the focus is solely on the management of supply and not demand, the demand will continue to increase and outstrip supply, necessitating the development of more and more dams and pipelines. Every new dam and pipeline will be more expensive than the last (as the first dams will be in cheaper and closer locations)." If Malaysians don't want their taps to run dry again, there's a role they have to start playing, says Environmental Management and Research Association of Malaysia president, K. Kumarasivam. Households should realise that they can take measures to reduce demand. Industries should see that scant water resources will limit economic development, as evident during the last water crisis. Water, after all, is a commodity.

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The Shah Alam Statement on Key Strategies for Integrated Water Resources Management, that came out of the July 1999 Workshop on Sustainable Management of Water Resources in Malaysia, identified raising tariffs, recycling and reusing of water by industries, and among other things, public awareness campaigns, as strategies of managing water demand. Water tariffs The price of water in Malaysia, says Dr Chan Ngai Weng, president of Water Watch Penang, is "dirt cheap". Cheap water has its consequences. "The way we treat water shows that we don't care about conserving it," says Treat Every Environment Special director, Leela Panikkar. At the July workshop, all 100 participants supported an increase in the water tariff, at minimum to a level that the payments cover the full cost of providing potable water. Parish says the price increase should be graduated, that is, they should penalise heavy usage levels while maintaining current costs for low-income groups. Dr Chan says this is done by increasing the rates geometrically according to the amount of water each family uses. For instance, each household is allocated a stipulated amount of water a month. To ensure everybody has enough water for his daily needs, a 200 lpd limit is proposed. Based on a mean family of five persons, they would need 200 X 5 = 1,000 lpd or 30,000 litres per month. A family using not more than this is considered to be not wasting water and is charged the current rate. Families using more than 30,000 litres per month are charged double; those using 40,000-50,000 lpm are charged triple and so on. (Dr Chan Ngai Weng, Water Conservation and Reuse and Reduction of Water Use). "This way, families who use water carefully without wasting are not penalised but the regular wasters will be severely dealt with," says Chan. Parish says increase in water prices has been successful in reducing water consumption in other countries. For instance, when the city of Bogor, Indonesia, was faced with high investment costs of developing additional water supplies, a strategy of education and a 30 per cent increase in tariff led to an immediate 30 per cent drop in water consumption. Following a further period of public education programmes on water conservation, and distribution of water-saving devices, further savings of 30 per cent were noted. In Denmark, water consumption was reduced after a green tax of 40 per cent was introduced on water. Public awareness Public awareness campaigns on water conservation are lacking in Malaysia. Kumarasivam says: "When there is a crisis there is an awareness programme. After that, everybody forgets about it. There should be sustained campaigns."

Page 4 Managing demand for water New Straits Times (Malaysia) February 29, 2000
The Shah Alam Statement asked for closer cooperation between nongovernmental organisations and the State governments for campaigns in schools. NGOs - like TrEES, Wetlands International and the Malaysian Nature Society - have environmental education programmes that should be used, and have been, but in a limited number of schools. Parish says that one of the constraints to funding water conservation/demand management vs supply projects is that there is no direct money to be made from water conservation. "When water supply is privatised, the supplier wants to maximise the sales/revenue per household, not reduce it. Thus, the private sector rarely actively promotes water conservation unless in times of crisis. Thus, the Government needs to be more proactive in promoting and funding water demand management." Puncak Niaga (M) Sdn Bhd, when asked to respond to this, referred the NST to the Water Works Department. Recycling by industries Recycling and reuse of water, particularly by industries, should be encouraged through technology promotion, incentives and regulations. Says Panikkar: "The Government should come up with policies that encourage industries to recycle water. "We always calculate how expensive it is. We never check how much money we might save in the long run." Parish says it is feasible for many industries to recycle water, although some investment in plant and process reorganisation is necessary. Industries don't recycle, says Parish, because: 1. water is provided to industries at a relatively cheap cost so that there is little direct incentive to invest in recycling in the short term. 2. The Government has up to now emphasised supply side management of water, that is, it will increase water supply to meet growing demand. 3. The Government has not implemented any regulations or campaigns or given any incentives to companies to look into recycling. Policy change Thus, some change in existing policies are also needed, not just for industries, but for new development projects and households. Panikkar asks why Malaysians need treated water in their gardens, and for flushing the toilet. "We need to rethink our whole system of managing water." Some of the new policies recommended requires home owners to maintain roof gutters and to collect rainwater for washing cars and watering plants. Rainwater harvesting Rainwater is free and relatively clean compared to river water; and is safe for washing, cleaning, watering plants and flushing toilets. Hydrologist Dr G. Balamurugan, who is also director for specialist environmental consultants at ERE Consult Sdn Bhd, says that rainwater harvesting is perhaps the oldest form of water management. It has been practised all over the world, mostly in households and sometimes in

Page 5 Managing demand for water New Straits Times (Malaysia) February 29, 2000
villages. "What we should be doing now is harvesting rainwater for a much larger municipal use, supplementing water abstracted from the river." There are also calls to require all industries to install rainwater collection, storage and filtration facilities for general use, and to distill their recyclable pure water when needed. Households, too, should begin harvesting rainwater as it is simple. Balamurugan says that it is inexpensive to install a rainwater-harvesting system for any house. All that is required is a large tank, some piping and faucets. Any plumber should be able to construct one. "It may not be able to meet all our water demands, but as a backup system, it is probably the best," says Balamurugan. For those in urban areas worried about rainwater containing harmful substances, Balamurugan says: "As long as you are not drinking this water, you are quite safe." Non-revenue water loss An average of 38 per cent of treated water is lost nationally through breakage, theft, seepage or other unaccountable ways. This non-revenue water can reach up to 50 per cent in some States (Dr Chan Ngai Weng, ibid). In 1995, 3,587 mld was lost from the 9,442 mld of treated water that was produced a day. Chan says the Government needs to consider repairing and replacing leaking pipes and mains and to impose heavy fines on those caught stealing water. In 1998, a company that had been caught stealing water for two years was fined RM500 while other offenders were asked to install meters to their illegal connections. Is this how seriously the Government intends to be about treated water? Selangor, meanwhile, has set a target of reducing non-revenue water by one per cent per year for the next 20 years. Although it is indeed an area that needs to be looked into, Parish says, "replacing pipes is a long and expensive operation which also leads to supply disruption. In the short term it may be more cost effective to invest in water conservation and recycling schemes which may have greater savings than replacing all pipes." As the country moves into the millennium with visions of a developed nation status and higher economic growth, one must note that without something as basic as water, we are nothing.

LOAD-DATE: February 29, 2000 LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Page 6 Managing demand for water New Straits Times (Malaysia) February 29, 2000
GRAPHIC: (STF) - If Malaysians don't want their taps to run dry again, they should take steps to reduce their demand and eliminate wastage of this valuable commodity, reports Sarah Sabaratnam. Picture - Finite source ... Malaysia has a heavy annual rainfall but due to pollution and other stresses on rivers, taps can and have run dry. - File pictures Copyright 2000 New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad

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