Water Pollution

Our mother Earth is filled with water. 2/3 of it is water. However DRINKING WATER or freshwater is still scarce as it only consists of 0.3% of that water. Yet, we as the occupant of Earth do not know how to appreciate it. Imagine one day when we no longer have any clean water supply and need to drink from the water from the image below:

Even with modern day's technology of water purification, water cannot be treated completely. As Malaysia is fast becoming an industrial country, many of her rivers have become polluted. Rivers are used as an outlet for waste chemicals from factories to waste away. Of course this is very profitable to the factory as they can save large sums of money but the waters and the lives that resolve around them are in deep trouble. Some people from the rural areas of Malaysia depend on rivers for their everyday activities. They depend on the river for everything: bath, water supply, watering corps. Now they are in deep trouble. Water pollution is a serious problem in Malaysia and impacts negatively on the sustainability of water resources. It reduces the total water availability considerably as the cost of treating polluted waters is too high and in some instances, polluted waters are not treatable for consumption.


Quality of Malaysian River Water, 1992-1998

Category	1992		1993		1994		1995		1996		1997		1998
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Very polluted	7	8.1	11	9.5	14	12.1	14	12.2	13	11.2	25	21.4	16	13
Slightly polluted	55	63.2	73	62.9	64	55.2	53	46.1	61	52.6	68	58.1	71	59
Clean	25	28.7	32	27.6	38	32.7	48	41.7	42	36.2	24	20.5	33	28
Total	87	100	116	100	116	100	115	100	116	100	117	100	120	100

From the table above we can see that Malaysia's water is really still okay.. thanks to the numerous efforts made to treat the rivers. Of course, if every Malaysian just does their part, the percentage of clean water will be totally higher 
than that and the government can also save money.

 The pie chart above shows the composition of water pollutions sources in 2004.17,991 water pollution point sources in 2004 comprising mainly sewage treatment plants (54%), manufacturing industries (38%), animal farms (5%) and agro-based industries (3%).

In year 2006, the number of rivers in the cleanest category was almost double that of 2005.The number of polluted river basins were also down by more than half. Only seven of Malaysia’s 146 river basins were categorized as polluted in year 2006, down from 15 the year before. All the polluted river basins were in Peninsular Malaysia, with Johor topping the list.

Among the worst polluted river in the world are located in the location listed below:

1. Dzerzinsk, Russia

2.Chernobyl, Ukraine

3. Linfen, Shanxi, Province, China 

4.La Oroya, Peru

5.Kabwe, Zambia 

6.Ranipet, India

It is enough if we do not think of our future, why should pitiful marine lifes suffer for our actions?

Like us they are the creation of God and they have the rights to live.

Water Disasters

Water can be our best friend but water is also our worst enemy. We hope for lots water during droughts and wish the water to go away during floods. Disasters such as the tsunami and the melting of ice in the North Pole are also devastating as they will crush the future of humanity. 
Malaysia had suffered much from floods and droughts. Malaysia also suffered once from the 26 December 2004 tsunami as Penang was hit. Casualties were minor as Malaysia is lucky enough as the most of the disaster was blocked by the islands of Indonesia.
The most frequent phenomenon happening in Malaysia is flood. Malaysia suffered frequent floods due to

• natural result of cyclical monsoons during the local topical wet season
• inadequate drainage 
• global warming effect

On the other hand, droughts as you all know is the lack of rain. The land is barren and covered in thin dust.
Malaysia always has enough rain so the problem of drought from rain is out of the question. Instead the drought in Malaysia were caused by deforestation, dams and the  El Nino weather phenomenon such as the one drought caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon in August 2001. This completely caught authorities unprepared, swiftly depleted water reserves and left nearly 2 million people in Kuala Lumpur and its suburbs without running water for days at a stretch.

I guess all of us know what a tsunami is. A devastating tidal wave that sweeps all in it's path. An example was the recently Sendai Tsunami which costs the Japanese half of their finance. Tsunamis are a frequent occurrence in Japan; approximately 195 events have been recorded. We were lucky that our country Malaysia do not have much of this phenomenon.

Last but not least we go to the melting of ice of the North Pole.

The first picture shows the ice in the North Pole in 20th century while the 2nd picture shows the ice in the 21st century. Any differences? As you all see, the North Pole's ice is gradually decreasing due to the effect of global warming. Where does those ice gone to? Yes, they had all turned into water and guess what does the water has in for us? Ya... MORE FLOOD!!!

MALAYSIA Facing Water Crisis

Malaysia has an annual rainfall of 300 cm while Egpyt only has 51mm a year. Thus Malaysia should not have any problem with water right?? WRONG! 
Frequent episodes of water shortage make headlines every so often. Even so Malaysians continue to waste water, a precious a finite resource.
Not many would believe that Malaysia is facing shortage of water. 

We have sufficient rainfall every year yet we still are in shortage of water, why is that?

Currently, Malaysians use an average of 226 litres of water per person daily, which is way above our South-East Asia neighbours. Singaporeans use 154 litres (and intend to lower it to 147 litres by 2020) while the Thais manage with 90 litres.

Malaysian uses more than they should and many of us do not intend to change this bad habit despite of this crisis.

The picture above shows an example of the wasteful nature of Malaysian consumers.

The state of Selangor will be depending for Pahang for raw water soon. With the Pahang-Selangor interstate water transfer project expected to ensure water sufficiency for the Klang Valley only until 2025. Water shortage is not an unfounded projection. After all, rain does not fall constantly year-round; neither does it always fall evenly across all catchment areas. 

“If Malaysians follow the recommended water usage, they can save up to 28.2cu.m per household, or RM18.33 a month."  says Dato' Sri Peter Chin, Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water

Many thought that water is cheap and care less for this precious resource.
"Why bother saving water when it is so cheap?"was the reply of those asked to save water.
It is true that in Malaysia, water is a low value commodity. In fact, the average Malaysian's water bill is just 10% of their electricity bill. The truth is water prices had been greatly subsidized to all water consumers.
Saving water is also not about whether it's cheap or not but saving water is about the future. T-H-E  F-U-T-U-R-E

Save Water, Save Life