MIRI: Chief executive officers (CEOs) and other top executives of water management agencies in Malaysia are hampered by low water tariffs.
Northern Sarawak Water Board (Lembaga Air Kawasan Utara – Laku) CEO, Wong Tiong Kai, said this was the stark reality facing water management authorities nationwide where pumping more money into improving infrastructures can blow a hole in the bottom line.
“During a workshop for CEOs and top agency executives on water management in the country in Kuala Lumpur last week, all were of the view that the rate is so low that it is cheaper to ‘waste’ water (NRW) than to plug the leak,” he said.
Full cost recovery of water supplied to consumers in advanced countries hinge on water authorities given the mandate to fix tariffs and pick materials to use, while funding from donor countries or Asian Development Bank has enabled developing countries such as Cambodia to slash NRW from 72 per cent to 6.15 per cent in seven years.
He said this in his speech during the 15th anniversary celebration Laku at a hotel here on Thursday.
Assistant Minister of Public Utilities (Water Supplies) Sylvester Entri Anak Muran officiated at the function on behalf of Public Utilities Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan.
On Laku treatment plant in Lambir, he said it would produce four times the amount of 15 years ago after the fourth module expansion project is completed next year.
It will include new technology in folded plate flocculators and tube settlers in the water treatment system.
This, he said, would provide better quality water and keep up with the higher demand when rural supply pipes installed in the division are connected to their distribution network.
Demand in the past 15 years had already doubled, with Laku producing 236.5 MLD for the customers of 85,799 meters compared to 121 MLD (42,997 meters) when it took over from JKR Miri in 1996.
The expanded Lambir plant will boost capacity to 411 million litres daily (MLD), an additional 80 MLD. This will be in line with the higher demand from the city and rural areas under the Public Works Department. This would be linked to itís main distribution network under the National key results areas (NKRA).
On discoloured water from Laku which stood at 20.5 per cent of public complaints for the first nine months of this year, there has been an improvement from 23.4 per cent in 2009.
Wong pointed out that raw water which was high in iron and manganese elements from its intake point in Bakong River could not be removed completely using traditional method or with aluminium cholorohydrate treatment.
“Even developed countries with more advanced treatment plants and better technology faced similar problem, including the United Kingdom where it accounts for 34 per cent in a five-year span,” he said.
A the same function, Laku donated RM24,000 to charitable NGOs in Miri to fulfil part of their corporate social responsibilities.