KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — The National Water Research Institute of Malaysia (Nahrim) is actively promoting rainwater harvesting on a large scale as one of the alternatives to deal with water issues in the country.
The Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said that besides non-drinking water use as taking place around the world at the moment, it is also used as drinking water supply.
"Rainwater harvesting is not seen as attractive compared to water tap...but in other countries such as Australia when the dry season arrives it becomes a crime to use treated water to wash the car because it can only be used for drinking.
"Our water rates are too low, and most state governments have agreed to bring the tariff setting mechanism paper and the water Imbalanced Cost Pass-Through (ICPT) to the Cabinet before the end of the year in the hope of approving the new tariffs by 2024.”
He said this during an oral answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today to a supplementary question by Tumpat MP Datuk Mumtaz Md Nawi regarding Nahrim's authority in educating the people in this country on the use of rainwater.
Meanwhile, he said the construction project for the Riverside Water Catchment (Taps) planned in Machang, Kelantan is currently in the procurement process.
The project, he said, was approved with a grant amounting to RM650 million under the 3rd Rolling Plan (RP3) capable of supplying 500 million litres per day (mld) of raw water, sufficient for the state of Kelantan, especially in the districts of Kota Bharu, Bachok and Pasir Puteh until the year 2030.
The project is important to ensure that the supply of raw water sources is always sufficient and not affected for the water treatment plant, which is involved, especially in the dry season.
He said this in response to Mumtaz's original question regarding measures taken by the government to ensure the country does not face a water crisis, especially in states that still do not have dams such as Kelantan.
–- Bernama
