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KUALA LUMPUR: A water crisis will hit the country as early as 2014 if Malaysians continue to waste water daily.

Malaysian Water Association (MWA) president Ahmad Zahdi Jamil said domestic, agricultural and commercial consumers continued with their "habit of wasting and overuse of water".

"If we continue with the current trend, we will surely be in trouble by 2014."

Pic above: Malaysian Water Association president Ahmad Zahdi Jamil says Malaysians must be more thrifty with water

On the average, Zahdi said, each Malaysian consumed about 280 litres of water daily, "which is very alarming".

"Compared with Singapore's 155 litres, the Philippines' 175 litres and Indonesia's 130 litres per person per day, Malaysia is among the highest water consumers in the region," he said after the MWA annual general meeting here yesterday.

He also pointed out that Malaysia's water sustainability index had fallen from 64 per cent in 1992 to 33 per cent in 2002.

"If Malaysians don't start consuming water sparingly, water companies are projecting a daily shortage of 476 million litres in 2014."

Zahdi said non-revenue water (NRW) was also a threat to the nation's water security and sustainability.

"NRW is water that is wasted when pipes leak or burst. The cost to repair the infrastructure will be high and in some cases, costlier than the revenue that can be generated by the wasted water, so some operators will prefer not to repair them."

Zahdi said one way to stem the negative trend's growth was to increase the tariffs.

"If water is more expensive, people will not waste. The tariff in Penang is low while the tariff in Johor is high. Hence, consumption in Penang is high but Johor is low.

"Also, revenue generated from the higher tariffs can be used by water service-providers to eliminate NRW," he said, adding MWA would submit its analysis and proposals for solutions to the National Water Services Commission (SPAN).

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