The following is the final of four features.
KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 (Bernama) -- Each time when disruption of the water supply happens, consumers would usually heap 'not so nice' words on the entity that is responsible for supplying water.
Similar words would come out from these users if they find murky or 'teh tarik-coloured' water flowing out from their taps. But many may not realise that the factors affecting the water quality could be the result of other factors including the plumbing in their own premises.
"It is wrong to say that Syabas suppplies dirty or uncleaned water because we have treated the water according to the standard determined by the Health Ministry.
"The quality of water that reached the consumers' homes could be affected by causes like leaking or broken (underground) pipes. If such things happen, the soil would get into the pipes and the water would become brownish and emits an odour.
"The same thing happens if the treated water passes through dirty and rusty pipes. Hence the quality of water that flows out from the taps would be affected," the Executive Director (Corporate Affairs) of Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) told Bernama when asked about the complaints on water quality.
(Syabas took over the supply of treated water in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya on Jan 1, 2005).
EASILY BROKEN PIPES
Out of the existing water supply pipes in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, 6,423 km of these pipes had succumbed to age and need to be replaced.
Abdul Halem said most of the old pipes were made from asbestos cement (AC) and are more than 40 years old, easily broken and rusty.
"Not only the water supply and quality are affected but this also contributes to the high Non Revenue Water (NRW) loss", he said in an interview at his office, Jalan Pantai Baharu here recently.
However Syabas' plan to replace the old pipes had to be shelved as the government had frozen the capital expenditures (CAPEX) programme and only allows emergency and critical work to be carried out.
(CAPEX are expenditures creating future benefits).
"When the CAPEX programme was frozen in 2008, the replacement of leaking and rusty pipes could not be carried out. We could only make repairs", he said adding that Syabas had to clarify the situation with residents who had been earlier told that these pipes would be replaced.
SYABAS' INITIATIVE
Abdul Halem said Syabas had taken the initiative to replace the old pipes in 2005 in the effort to reduce the high NRW.
"From 2005 until 2008, Syabas managed to significantly reduce the NRW from 42.78 percent to 32 percent," he said.
This was achieved via integrated moves including replacing the old pipes, curbing water pilferage apart from implementing the 'amnesty' work where water metres were installed for those who had taken water without authorisation.
"Our intention is to further reduce the NRW but with the freezing of CAPEX programme, we are only able to ensure that the water losses are kept to that level.
"Among others, we can initiate immediate action by repairing the broken pipes as we are not able to install the new pipes unless the freeze on CAPEX is lifted," said Abdul Halem.
There are 24,000 km of old pipes and 1,226 catchment ponds under Syabas' jurisdiction that need to be serviced.
FOCUS
Despite the constraints, Syabas' prime focus is to provide the optimum service available to 7.5 million consumers in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya via its Consumer Friendly programme.
Abdul Halem said after six years in operation (up to end of 2010), Syabas' performance was encouraging in terms of water supply and improving facilities for water distribution.
Among Syabas' initiatives were the setting up of Puspel, the customer service centre, where it functions as a one-stop centre in handling complaints by consumers including that on water supply.
Puspel can be contacted at 1-800-88-5252 (toll free). Consumers can also sms Puspel at 39222, fax at 03-22955168 and e-mail puspel@syabas.com.my. Complaints and enquiries can also be sent to P. O. Box 11871, Kuala Lumpur.
As of November 2010, Puspel which functions round-the-clock had received 446,890 calls.
Abdul Halem said only 0.7 percent of these calls were complaints on water quality.
"This shows that Syabas has carried its resposibility well by ensuring that the quality of water supplied adheres to the standard determined by Health Ministry and its Clients Charter," he said.
He said between 2005 and 2008, Syabas invested RM1.756 billion to improve the infrastructure apart from refurbishing and upgrading pump houses, water tanks and installing additional/new pipes to boost the water supply capacity and reducing NRW.
INCREASING DEMAND
Abdul Halem also said rapid development has increased demand for treated water hence water production from treatment plants has to be stepped up.
He said there was 3.59 percent increase in water production from the average of 3,922.13 million litres per day (MLD) in 2009 to 4,062.94 MLD in January 2010.
The existing water demand in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya is approaching the maximum production capacity at all water treatment plants particularly during the peak period.
"Since taking over the job supplying water (in 2005) for Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, Syabas had started to identify measures to boost the existing water supply capacity to the maximum level.
"These measures allow for the alternative plans on channeling of water. For example the closure of the Salak Tinggi treatment plant due to pollution of raw water did not affect consumers as the alternative water supply was drawn from the Sungai Semenyih treatment plant", he said.
Abdul Halem also delved into the issue where pollution frequently occurred in Sungai Langat forcing stopping of operations at Batu 11 Cheras treatment plant as well as the high demand from the Sungai Langat treatment plant due to rapid development in its surrounding areas that affected the water supply in Cheras.
This had forced Puncak Niaga, the operator of Sungai Langat treatment plant, to work beyond its capacity.
"Syabas is working on a project where 19 km of pipes would transfer clean water from Sungai Semenyih treatment plant to Sungai Langat treatment plant's distribution system.
"This is to meet the water supply needs in areas served by Sungai Langat water treatment plant to overcome the shortage of treated water there", he said.
WATER RESERVES
Despite Syabas' measures to overcome the water shortage due to the rapid development, the water reserves remain limited.
According to Abdul Halem, Syabas needs to have sufficient reserves to meet demand like in peak periods, water treatment plants that stopped operations due to water pollution, power failure, excessive drought or incidents of broken pipes.
He said the reserves at water treatment plants are supposed to be at the 20 percent level, contrary to present level of 6.5 percent where the level would drop to zero during the peak hours.
"Based on the current situation added by the rapid development in Klang Valley, it is not impossible if the situation worsened to a critical level if the dry spell prolongs.
"Hence alternative water resources are needed to deal with the increased demand", he said.
WATER CRISIS
Based on a study by Syabas, the existing water capacity for 2010 (January-December) was 4,326 MLD as against 4,063 MLD in usage. This left 263 MLD in water reserves or six per cent of the daily needs.
"For Jan-Dec 2010, the demand for treated water increased by 4.0 percent and taking into this year's increase in demand the water reserves would be depleted in early 2012 and this would lead to a water crisis.
"Hence the need for development of new water resources and this should be done from now," said Abdul Halem.
He said Syabas had proposed to the Selangor government for 10 schemes in order to have more water resources, however only eight were approved. Three of these schemes were given the nod for immediate implementation.
"However until the end of 2010, only one scheme was completed while the other two were shelved," he said.
Abdul Halem also said Syabas had proposed several schemes to overcome the water supply shortage. The projects proposed could produce an additional 343 MLD of water.
RAIN WATER
Syabas also recommended the harvesting of rain water to meet the consumers' needs. This system requires, among others, storage tanks, twin internal pipes - one for drinking water and the other, for other needs.
However rain water harvesting is only suitable for newly-built premises apart from requiring a huge investment.
"It will be costly to have this facility for existing premises", he said, adding that the owners of premises should have the incentive to have this facility as using rain water is much cheaper - at 57 sen for every 1,000 litres.
He said the rain water harvesting, if carried out on a big scale, needs a long time to be implemented.
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Syabas has not forgotten its corporate responsibility (CR) when it implemented 107 CR programmes in 2010. This included the campaign on clean water supply for all and free water sypply for the needy.
A programme on consumers' awareness and education was also implemented in schools and also for the younger generation to love the natural environment particularly rivers in Selangor.
Another of Syabas' CR programmes was the 'Tabung Budi', an initiative of Syabas and PNSB employees, in assisting the underprivileged in Selangor to receive water after supply to their homes was stopped due to failure in settling the water bills.
Among the beneficiaries of this programme are single parents with many school-going children, senior citizens, the disabled and poor families.
The fund was launched on Oct 22, 2010. As of Feb 24, 2011, the recipients of Tabung Budi stood at 43 people.- BERNAMA
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