SERI ISKANDAR: The Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry (KeTTHA) wants all parties to work towards having high-quality water in Malaysia, which will enable people to drink straight from the tap without the need for boiling or filtering.
KeTTHA secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Zaini Ujang said this is not an impossible dream, provided that all of the country’s water concessionaires work together with the ministry to improve the quality of treated water in the country.
“This is my challenge. If the water operators can work together in these five years, we can achieve our goal and fulfil the people’s wish of drinking water directly from the tap (without the need for boiling or filtering) just like in other developed countries,” he said.
Zaini was addressing a press conference after attending the National Transformation 2050 (TN50) Dialogue session and Malaysia Green Technology Master Plan (GTMP) 2017-2030, organised by the Energy Commission and KeTTHA in conjunction with World Water Day at the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Seri Iskandar Campus here today.
Zaini said among the initiatives that could be taken in order to achieve the goal was to ensure that the treated water system in houses are regularly well-maintained, without the need for home water tanks. The water would instead be channeled from a primary tank, supplying high-quality water.
“Should we have high water reserve margin and plenty of supply in a centralised tank in a housing area, we would no longer need individuals tanks in our homes. This indirectly means that the quality of the water is assured by the water operators themselves.
“In our bid to achieve this, this is the real challenge instead of merely talking about political matters. We have to think ahead and work towards achieving this in five years,” he said.
Earlier during the dialogue session, Zaini said Malaysians are still unable to enjoy drinking water straight from the tap as there is no guarantee of what lies in the water tanks in their respective houses.
“Has anyone climbed up to the roof and personally checked out what is in the tanks in their homes? There may be rat carcasses, sediments, rust, we just never know. This is why we still need to boil water before drinking it,” he said.
Zaini also said that 20 per cent of the electricity supply in Peninsular Malaysia comes from the Sultan Azlan Power Station which provides more than 4,000 megawatts (MW).
