Development Aspects Impressum Editors

Background to water resources management in Malaysia

By all standards, Malaysia is considered a “rich” country in terms of water resourc- es. Based on an average annual rainfall of more than 3,000 mm, it has more than 566 billion m³ of annual renewable surface water (Abdullah, 2002). However, de- spite being endowed with abundant water resources, it is often plagued by serious water problems that have threatened its current and future water security (Chan, 2002). With per capita renewable water of more than 10 times the international water stress line of 1,700 m³ per annum, Malaysia does not have any valid reason to blame climate, seasonal variability, the environment or other natural factors for its water woes. In fact, much of Malaysia’s water problems are largely hu- man-caused (Chan, 2009). Water resources are depleted by destruction of water catchments (via logging, land clearance for agriculture, highway construction, dam construction, etc.), water pollution, water wastage, high non-revenue water, low tariffs, lack of incentives for water conservation and public apathy (Chan, 2004). The country also lacks strong institutional arrangements owing to the absence

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   See www.gwptoolbox.org/index.php?option=com_tool&cat_id=11. Accessed 12 January 2011.
   

of a national water policy. Shahrizaila Abdullah (1999) has proposed a water vi- sion to fill this gap. Poor institutional arrangements are manifested in the Federal– State dichotomy, interstate disputes, state–local government disagreements, etc. Hence, human mismanagement is the fundamental cause of most of Malaysia’s water problems. Despite this, Malaysia relies heavily on the structural paradigm to solve its water problems by employing top-down engineering and technical solu- tions such as construction of dams, water treatment plants, interstate water trans- fers, laying of pipe mains, etc. Such an approach does not tackle the fundamental causes that threaten our water security. It addresses only the technical side of the problems without involving the human side. This is not a sustainable method to ensure the future of Malaysia’s water resources. In order to successfully address water problems and ensure future water security, it is imperative that Malaysia tackles both the technical as well as the human contexts that threaten water secu- rity (Chan, 2010a).

Malaysia’s water woes are manifested in terms of water crises/droughts, floods, poor water quality as discussed above. Combined with other factors, including cli- mate change, the water equation in Malaysia has radically changed from one of relative abundance to one of relative scarcity. Factors such as population explosion (including in-migration from neighbouring countries), rapid urbanization, agricul- tural expansion, industrialization, tourism and other developments are imposing excessive demands and pressures on Malaysia’s water resources. At the same time, water availability is depleted by pollution. All these seriously threaten Malaysia’s water security. The authorities have preferred to tackle all these water problems with the WSM approach, which is based solely on technology without addressing the human issues that are really the root causes of these water problems. WDM has been shown to be highly effective in countries such as Singapore, Denmark and Japan. Malaysia can and must adopt WDM. WDM is inevitable and it is imperative that Malaysia embraces this new paradigm as one of its priority strategies to ensure its water security.

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