The Selangor government's policy of giving free water over the last four years is unwise and non-sustainable, says an academician.
Prof Dr Suhaimi Abdul Talib said the policy had resulted in shrinking revenue for the state government that would otherwise have come in handy or useful for improving infrastructure facilities.
"Although free water looks good as a short-term gain, from the long-term view we are not educating the people to value water," he said in an interview with Bernama today.
And Dr Suhaimi, who is Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Development, Facilities Management and ICT of Universiti Teknologi Mara, warned that "we don't have the luxury of infinite supply of water. We have to realise that our sources of water are depleting simply on account of a sharp increase in demand".
He said the state would also come to a stage where it could no longer draw raw water from outside sources and new sources of water would have to come from how best it could manage its own internal sources.
Dr Suhaimi said he was against a free water policy because the question of affordability was not an issue here.
"If we have to pay our water bill at RM40 per month, what is RM40? Your kids spend more than RM40 on their (handphone) prepaid (bills). So it's not a question of affordability. We should be paying for our water."
Dr Suhaimi said the people of Selangor must be made to change their perception on water by way of appreciating the true value of water and this could not be done as long as they got free water.
"The people of Selangor must use water wisely so that each resident can reduce consumption by 20 per cent. This means the capacity at our reservoirs can increase accordingly by 20 per cent. This is something that we have overlooked."
He said developed countries had moved from water resource management to demand management, adding that "we have to regulate people who use water".
"There is only one way for us to ensure sustainable use of water. We must change our behaviour towards water and only through behaviour modification could we prevent uncontrollable demand. Of course the demand will rise but the rate of increase will be manageable," said Dr Suhaimi.
Dr Suhaimi explained that if a water tariff increase was inevitable, say every few years, it had to be justified and with the agreement of the government.
"Let me put it this way. In this country, whatever (payment for) goods and services that are to be increased is going to reflect badly on the government. This is because we are so used to getting everything for free or subsidised. So when you try to take it back, the people say this is our right, so the problem with Malaysians is this ... it is not the question of affordability, we can afford to pay but it's a question of the personal willingness to pay."
He said water, being a basic necessity for everyone, should not be given free because it would mean that the precious commodity did not have a value.-- BERNAMA
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