‘Free water policy unwise’

(Bernama) – The Selangor Government’s policy of giving free water over the last four years is unwise and non-sustainable, says an academic.

Prof Dr Suhaimi Abdul Talib said the policy had resulted in shrinking revenue for the state that would have been 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.

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 it could manage its own internal sources best.

Dr Suhaimi said he was against a free water policy because the question of affordability was not an issue.

“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 appreciating the true value of water and this could not be done as long as they get free water.

“The people of Selangor must use water wisely so that each resident can reduce consumption by 20%. This means the capacity at our reservoirs can increase accordingly by 20%. This is something that we have overlooked.”

Dr Suhaimi explained that if a water tariff increase was inevitable, it had to be justified and with the agreement of the government.

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.