THE water authorities in Penang should not be carried away with the declaration that the state recorded the lowest per capita domestic water consumption in the last 24 years.
Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr. Chan Ngai Weng, a prominent academic on water resources, said, instead, low water consumption can also be attributed to the higher rate of water disruption, cuts and major maintenance works, which saw many households without piped water for a longer duration last year than in previous years.
While Chan paid tribute to the Penang Water Supply Corporation Sdn Bhd (PBAPP) for this achievement, he concluded that more needs to be done to overcome the high rate of non-revenue water (NRW).
‘There is a contention as the state is dealing with aging piping and rotting infrastructure, which has led to a NRW of above 25%, Chan said, adding, Penang used to be below 20% decades earlier.
Chan, who is the Penang Water Watch Committee President, reiterated the importance of water conservation to address climate change where droughts and high humidity are more common than ever, while also finding new alternatives other than from water catchment areas and dams, adding, consumers also need to play their part in assisting PBAPP in the fight to maintain sustainable quality water supply.
The National Water Services Commission (SPAN) chairman Charles Santiago had advocated to Penang the need to consider applying recycled waste water and mining underground for water besides enlarging the pool of consumers using the rainwater harvesting technic.
PBAPP recorded the state’s lowest per capita domestic water consumption in 24 years last year, according to its chief executive officer Datuk K. Pathmanathan.
Pathmanathan said that last year, consumers here used 261 litres per capita per day (Lpcd) of treated water compared to 284 Lpcd in 2023, representing a decrease of 23 Lpcd or 8.1 per cent year-on-year.
“The 261 Lpcd is the lowest for Penang since 2000 (255 Lpcd), but the Penang population in 2000 was 1.3 million compared to 1.8 million in 2024. As a result, overall domestic water consumption increased by 39.8 per cent, from about 123 million cubic meters (m³) in 2000 to 172 million m³ last year. Nevertheless, the figure of 261 Lpcd represents a positive step forward in domestic water conservation. Over the 10 years from 2014 to 2023, domestic water consumption in Penang ranged between 276 Lpcd and 308 Lpcd,” Pathmanathan said in a statement.
According to Pathmanathan, three main factors contributing to the reduction in domestic water consumption may be attributed to PBAPP’s implementation of new domestic water rates since Feb 1, increased public awareness, and the PBAPP 10 Percent Reduction Campaign 2024.
In a following statement, PBAPP cited that water consumption in Penang dropped by an average of about 0.6% or 5 million litres per day (MLD) in 2024 when compared to 2023.
Although the percentage seems low, 5 MLD is a volume of water that may fill more than 3.33 million large (1.5L) drinking water bottles every day. The reduction happened despite that the total number of registered consumers served by PBAPP in Penang increased by 15,742, from 689,786 in 2023 to 705,528 clients last year.
PBAPP data showed that there were increases in the number of consumers in every category of consumption. - February 9, 2025
