For the best water deal, include the people

The Selangor government’s decision to cancel the state’s water restructuring deal with the Federal government and four concessionaires appears to give Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali a valuable bargaining chip in the never-ending game that its water sector has been caught up in.

The many dimensions of Selangor’s water supply situation can be the subject of a fascinating discussion about the value of water assets, concession agreements, political stakeholders, water sources, demand management and water stress, that would leave the long-suffering people of the Klang Valley with a distinct impression that they have been had.

That feeling would be quite impossible to dismiss for as long as the parties to the agreement continue to tell the people with a straight face that, as advised by their legal experts, they cannot be told the terms of the concession agreements for what is perhaps the most basic of the public goods.

Nevertheless, the abrogation of the restructuring deal offers a tantalising opportunity for a shift in approach towards the management of Selangor’s water supply that could set right the current trajectory of wasteful consumption once and for all.

It is certainly useful to bear in mind that Selangor has the highest rate of water withdrawal for domestic consumption in Southeast Asia, at 91.6 cubic metre per capita, when considering the need for the state to find new sources of water to keep up with the growth in demand.

Water experts admonish Malaysians that the national average domestic consumption of 226 litres per person per day (LPD) is higher than in many developed countries and more than double the best practice of 100 LPD that is advocated by the United Nations.

When Klang Valley residents have to endure scheduled and unscheduled disruptions to their water supply, including water rationing during dry spells, the habitual response is to berate the authorities for failing to take pre-emptive measures to ensure that the supply is adequate for the growing demand for water that an expanding metropolis can be expected to have.

Only after the change of government in Selangor in 2008 did it become apparent that the water sector is an immensely important financial resource for whoever gets to manage it. Note that Selangor’s water assets that were earmarked for restructuring were valued at RM14.92 billion, as announced by the then menteri besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim in September last year.

Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the opposing political coalitions have been sorely tested to find enough common ground on which to agree about how the resource is to be managed.

If the Selangor government was chastised for not approving the tariff revision sought by concession holder Syabas, Khalid in turn would scold Syabas for failing to reduce the non-revenue water to the level stipulated in the secret concession agreement, which was a pre-condition for the tariff increase.

Nor was there a shortage of opposing views on the need for raw water supply to be urgently increased or treatment capacity to be enhanced or catchment areas to be expanded.

If anything, the latest gambit played by Azmin makes the prospect of bringing the combating sides together seem even more remote.

While Azmin’s move may have the effect of clearing the deck in advance of an anticipated meeting this week between the Selangor government and the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water on the way ahead, no real progress can be expected under the current adversarial paradigm.

To move ahead, the two sides must take a leap of faith into a new political dimension, where the war games of old politics is traded in for cooperation in the national interest. In the current environment of daily acrimony and mutual denunciation, this may seem like a surreal idea. Nevertheless, it can happen if we want badly enough to welcome a new future for the country.

Over the past seven years of political posturing about Selangor’s water sector, where both sides have harped on ensuring an adequate supply of the commodity for the population, there has been too little attention on treating water as a strategic resource.

Instead, the approach taken to date has been to consider water as effectively unlimited in supply, at least in the foreseeable future.

This is reflected in the aggressive search for new sources of water to tap into for the Klang Valley, instead of paying much closer attention to demand management.

Incredibly, despite the significant loss of investments due to the relocation of businesses affected by the disruption of water supply, and the rejection of investors’ applications due to the expected shortage of water, there has been no discernible change in official attitudes towards the water sector.

Though it may seem ironic today, a shift towards a strategic approach to water resources could well be the most important variable for the continued growth of Selangor’s economy as the adverse impacts of climate change put increasing stress on water supplies.

In light of this, Azmin could make a crucial contribution to the sustainability of Selangor’s growth by putting community ownership of water resources at the top of the agenda in the new phase of the state’s water sector management that he has just initiated.

A holistic programme to advance this agenda would encompass public education, engagement with stakeholders, institutionalising representation, share-ownership schemes, fiscal and regulatory measures and related programmes.

Serious attention to this theme could potentially transform the outlook for water resources from a losing battle against the degradation of catchment areas, deteriorating water quality and increasing water stress to a clean, green and wholesome water resource base that yields not just economic dividends, but health, aesthetic and recreational benefits for both denizens of the Klang Valley and its visitors.

Azmin can be sure that if he sets his sights on such a transformational agenda, a host of environmental groups, water management experts, youth organisations and other civil society groups will back him to the hilt with their expertise and support to give it life. – March 14, 2015.

* R B Bhattacharjee is an associate editor at The Edge.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.