Water cuts just get to you
Right now there is water supply in my house and Apsara is screaming with joy as she is inside the 30-gallon water container. She thinks it is her “mini” swimming pool.
Peter Golingai, The Star
On the first two days, it felt like I was not living in Selangor, which is supposed to be the most developed state in Malaysia. It felt like I was in Kinabatangan, Sabah.
WHEN my friend told me that he bathed using a bucket of water, I gave him my fake sympathetic face. And when he was describing in detail how inconvenient it was, I was like “blah, blah, blah”.
I was unsympathetic about his water woes because it was his water woes, not mine. He was among those unfortunate people whose houses are affected by the water rationing exercise. Usually, when there is water rationing, my area – USJ Subang Jaya – is not affected.
Then, the inevitable happened.
The National Water Services Commission (SPAN) announced on April Fool’s Day that the fourth phase of water rationing would take effect on April 4.
This phase affected 620,237 households, including mine. In total, 1,340,231 households in Selangor (more than 6.7 million Selangor residents including that friend of mine who had to bathe with a bucket of water) faced water cuts.
My house was subjected to a two-days on, two-days off water supply pattern.
The first thing I did after I heard the April Fool’s Day announcement was to buy two RM80, 30-gallon (113.5 litres) water containers and a pink gayung (bailer). I placed the water containers in the master bedroom’s bathroom and the bathroom downstairs.
I filled them with water. It took about 35 minutes to fill the containers. I told myself that was how much water Apsara, my five-year-old daughter, use/waste when she showers with her Fluttershy doll for half an hour.
On the first two days of no water, it felt like I was not living in Selangor, which is supposed to be the most developed state in Malaysia. It felt like I was in Kinabatangan, Sabah.
The irony of living along Sungai Kinabatangan is that for generations your family has to rely on normal water supply – you practically cannot use the river water for drinking or bathing.
Locals would tell you that pesticides from oil palm plantations had “killed” the longest river in Sabah.
To make matter worse, there are water pipes running through the villages in Kinabatangan but there is no running water.
“Ada paip tapi tidak air (There are water pipes but no water),” locals would tell you in their most ironical expression. The villagers have to rely on rainwater.
My thoughts were with them each time when I unconsciously turn on the kitchen tap and there was no water flowing.
Showering – usually one of my favourite pastimes, especially after I return from work – was very stressful. I turn on and off the shower constantly as I was afraid that I would be using too much reserve water from the water tank.
My main worry was that if there was no water in the tank, I could not use the water heater to bathe my six-month-old son.
Each time I turn on and turn off the tap, I would think of how Selangor had become a free of water state from a free water state.
I would curse the free water policy of the Selangor Government. I would rather pay for water than to have no supply of free water. The amount the Selangor Government spent to fulfil its free water election promise is staggering.
Since 2008, the Pakatan Rakyat-led government has forked out about RM1bil to exempt Selangor residents from paying for the first 20 cubic metres of water each month.
That money could have gone to fix the three playgrounds in my residential area that had not been upgraded since the fall of the Barisan Nasional state government.
Each time I draw cold water from the 30-gallon container to bathe kampung-style, I would be thinking of who to blame for the water cut.
But I don’t know who exactly to blame. Should I blame it on the rain? Selangor Government? Federal Government? Syabas?
In the recent sitting of the Selangor assembly, assemblymen from both sides of the political divide blamed each other for the water crisis.
I’ve had discussion on who to blame. And I’ve concluded that the blame goes to whoever you are opposing politically.
One of the most interesting conspiracies I heard, on why there’s a water shortage in Selangor, sounds like a plot from the Roman Polanski 1974 film, Chinatown, about intrigue revolving around Los Angeles’ water supply.
Do we actually save water during the rationing period?
Based on my water consumption when there is supply, I don’t think so. My family uses water as if we were compensating for the days we didn’t have water.
Statistics back my assumption – people in Selangor are only using 7% less water despite the water rationing exercise.
Right now there is water supply in my house and Apsara is screaming with joy as she is inside the 30-gallon water container. She thinks it is her “mini” swimming pool.
I think the only ones happy with the water rationing exercise are plumbers.
The other day, water started flowing non-stop from an access pipe. A plumber told me that “pressure” from no water had caused the pipe to burst. He quoted RM2,500 to fix the problem.
I hope the Selangor Government’s next election promise is that it will cover the cost of plumbing problems caused by water cuts.
