Tired of intermittent water supply, consumers are willing to pay for water if the government can get its act together.
Three consumer groups - Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca), Forum Air Malaysia and Water and Energy Consumer Association (Wecam) said they are giving the government 12 months to solve the ongoing water crisis.
Being a resource that is important to all, they urged the government to do more than stage takeovers, start mega projects, and kick issues around for political gains.
"Buying and selling like on the share market shouldn't be happening here," Forum Air's secretary general Ratna Devi Nadarajan (left) told a press conference in Petaling Jaya.
"We are apolitical consumers ...as long as you open the tap, you get clean water, that's all we are asking."
Ratna who has helped carry out surveys for National Water Services Commission (Span), said that over 60 percent of Malaysian households now have some kind of water filtration system, showing that they are willing to stump up to thousands of ringgit for a stable and clean water supply.
Instead, it is the government which has done a disservice to the people by not being able to pipe this basic need despite ample rain, rivers and dams in the country, she added.
The groups want the government to put Water Services Industry Act 2006 (WSIA) into place immediately.
Without proper management, the government is just helping people to waste water, they said.
"Already, we are one of the biggest (per capita) consumers of water in the world... We have to value water, so the rise in tariff makes sense.
"People can protest but I think they have learned their lesson that having water is more important than free water," CEO of Fomca Paul Selvaraj said.
Selvaraj noted that in 2012, non-revenue water supply stood at 36.4 percent.
This meant that for every three buckets of water treated, one went down the drain or was unaccounted for.
Also, instead of using recycled water, nearly one in four buckets of treated water in the country was used for flushing toilets.
"Water demand management can reduce dependence on costly infrastructure projects," Selvaraj said, explaining that consumers do not just want more government spending on giant water treatment plants like the Federal-backed Langat 2.
Water emergencies
Three major problems needs to be solved or we are likely to face more water emergencies in the future, Wecam's Foon Weng Lian said. These were non-revenue water, overuse and the pollution of rivers.
He said consumers were aghast to see Selangor and water concessionaires fighting over water supply, without consideration for the rakyat's needs.
Since 2008, Selangor has been trying to buy back state water assets, which they claimed were poorly managed since its privatisation.
Over the last one year, Selangor MB Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (left) has refused to budge from an offer of RM9.65 billion to four Selangor water concessionaires who have turned it down.
There was a glimmer of hope last month as federal government promised to step in and help through legal means, but political will to resolve the quandary remains in deficit.
"It's a transparency issue," Foon, who is also the Fomca's deputy secretary general, said.
"Since 2012, we have suggested the government carry out an audit to determine the actual price because either way, it will involve taxpayer's money."
The consumer groups said the blame lies squarely on policy makers and implementation. Given that this year could see a repeat of the 1998 national water crisis that prompted calls for reforms which never happened, they said they want action now.
"The consumer organisations and members of Forum Air Malaysia do not see any hope in, nor would agree to, any more grace periods," they said in a joint statement.
an article from MalaysiaKini