page_title: Water supply and sanitation in Malaysia
section_title: Water resources and use
hierarchical_section_title: Water supply and sanitation in Malaysia / Water resources and use
caption_attribution_description: The KLCC Park (as seen towards the southeast from Suria KLCC), at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Exxon-Mobil Tower and Traders Kuala Lumpur hotel are depicted in the middle, while the roof of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre is visible towards the right.
context_page_description: Water supply and sanitation in Malaysia is characterised by numerous achievements, as well as some challenges. Universal access to water supply at affordable tariffs is a substantial achievement. The government has also shown a commitment to make the sector more efficient, to create a sustainable funding mechanism and to improve the customer orientation of service providers through sector reforms enacted in 2006. The reform creates a modern institutional structure for the water sector, including an autonomous regulatory agency, an asset management company and commercialised state water companies that have to reach certain key performance indicators that will be monitored by the regulatory agency. The government has also stated its intention not to embark on new private sector contracts for water provision, after a bout of such contracts during the 1990s showed mixed results.
  A number of challenges remain, only some of which have been addressed by the reforms. First, tariffs are low, thus making cost recovery impossible at current levels so that the sector continues to depend on government subsidies.
context_section_description: Water resources in Malaysia are abundant and available throughout the year. They are estimated at 580 km3/year (average 1977-2001), equivalent to more than 3,000 cubic meters per capita and year. In 1995, total water withdrawal was estimated at 12.5 km3, or less than 3 percent of available resources. 76 percent of water was used for agriculture, 11 percent for municipal water supply and 13 percent for industries. Thus only less than 1% of available water resources is used for drinking water supply.
  Malaysia is geographically divided in Peninsular Malaysia and Eastern Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia is drained by a dense network of rivers and streams, the longest being the Pahang River. Other major rivers in the peninsular Malaysia are the Kelantan River, Terengganu River, Dungun, Endau River, Sedili Besar River and Selangor River. The West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia is more urbanised and industrialised than the sparsely populated and water-rich East Coast.
  Major rivers in Eastern Malaysia include Malaysia’s longest river, the Rajang River (563 km) in Sarawak.
  Kuala Lumpur example.  The Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and Selangor state, which surrounds the capital, are the industrial heartland of the country and home to almost half its population. The constant growth of the metropolitan area increases its water needs. In 1998 the main sources of water supply for the area were the Ampang intake (18 megaliter per day) built in 1906,  the Klang Gates Dam (28 megaliter per day) built in 1928, and the Semenyih Dam (545 megaliter per day) completed in 1984. In February 1998 a water crisis had occurred as water levels in all three reservoirs dropped simultaneously. Water rationing had to be introduced shortly before the Commonwealth Games were held in the city. The crisis was blamed on a drought induced by El Nino. However, actual rainfall in the preceding months had not been significantly below average (according to 1998 Klang Valley water crisis). The government used the crisis to justify plans to build a mega project, the Pahang-Selangor Raw Water Transfer Project. The project includes the construction of the Kelau dam on the Pahang river in the neighbouring state bearing the same name, as well as the transfer of water via a tunnel through a mountain range.
  Only months after the 1998 Klang Valley water crisis, the Sungai Tinggi Dam had been completed with a capacity of 475 megaliters per day, thus increasing the supply to the Klang Valley by about 80%.  The dam was part of the first phase of the Selangor River water supply project. The second phase of the project was completed in December 2000, providing another 475 megaliters per day. The third phase was completed in July 2005, providing an additional capacity of 1050 megaliters per day. The three phases of the project thus increased the water supply capacity in the Klang Valley by 1950 megaliters per day. It thus more than tripled the water supply capacity to the Klang Valley in only seven years. As of 2005, total water resources for the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor area were 2541 megaliter per day for 7.3 million inhabitants. This corresponds to 348 litre per capita and day, which is three times as high as, for example, per capita water use in Germany.
  Nevertheless, the government states that the existing sources will meet supply only until 2007. Therefore, it continued to pursue the Pahang-Selangor Raw Water Transfer Project, which had received a boost from the 1998 Klang Valley water crisis. An environmental assessment for the project was completed in 1999. In 2005 the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) signed an agreement to provide a soft loan with 40 year maturity for the construction of the dam. However, following international protests the building of the Kelau dam was on hold in 2010.
  Critics argue that water demand management through the reduction of water losses and higher tariffs that would encourage water conservation can postpone the need for the transfer or even make it unnecessary. Water losses, or more precisely non-revenue water, were estimated a
caption: Kuala Lumpur's growing water needs require either better demand management or additional supplies
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