I just came back from this event called "World Water Day 2011". It's an annual event organized by Water Watch Penang and was held at Taman Metropolitan, Relau. I was the emcee for the event. At first, I was so nervous when Prof. Chan, the President of Water Watch Penang asked me do it. I just said yes, but didn't really want to do it. Being an emcee is my fear. I use to reject few offers that offered me to become the emcee for one particular event. Reason is, that's my biggest fear! But thanks to my best friends Nawal and Christina who were there to help me during the scripting. Now I really enjoy becoming an emcee. The best thing is, I finally overcome my fear!!! Yeah!!!
The event went well. Over 200 hundreds of kids participated in the Watercolour Painting Competition. There were 5 categories, and each categories were divided into certain age group. The winners walked away with bicycles! What a nice gift.
The event was recommended at the 1992 United Nation Conference on Environment and Development (UNICED) in Rio de Jenerio, Brazil. The United Nation General Assembly then responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the 1st World Water Day and since then, it has become an important date where the event is held annually. The purpose for this event is to focus attention and to create awareness about the importance of fresh water and the importance of sustainable management of freshwater resources in the world.
97.5% of the water on earth are salt water and the remaining 2.5% is freshwater of which two-thirds is frozen that leaves only 1% or 2.8 million trillion liters of water for all the plants, animal and 6.9 billion of human being living on our planet today. The scariest fact is, water is limited.
In Penang, we are completely relying only to one source which is the Sungai Muda for 80% of our raw water. Raw rain water is obviously free, but treated tap water costs money.To develop a second raw water source for example like new dams, pump stations or reservoirs, it will take years and million or even billions of ringgit just for the sake of it. Raw water needs to be stored and treated before it is supplied to our tap at home or office. Water supply costs, including electricity, chemical, maintenance and manpower costs have increased by 64% in the past 10 years and it will definitely increase each passing year. In a research that was conducted by PBAPP, out metered water consumption increased by 45.9% from 536 million liters per day in 1999 to 782 million liters per day in 2010. This means that water consumption in Penang increased by average of 3.8% per annum in the past 12 years, and it will continue to increase each year.
Each year we have this campaign of creating awareness about the importance of fresh water, but yet the water consumption is still increasing. The rivers are still polluted with rubbish, and I have to agree with an officer from the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (Penang) said that yes our river is polluted, but yet our people are more polluted. Can't they even think of the consequences after throwing rubbish in the river? Pity this kind of people. They should have come to this event and educate themselves about environment.
Penang Government are subsidizing our water bills for charging us the lowest water tariff in Malaysia. However, they will impose a surcharge for any individuals, or companies that are consuming more than 35,000 litter a month, by charging them RM 0.24 for every 1,000 litter (1 cubic meter). Yeah it's good for some people but for me, the government should have increased the water surcharge for the Penangites. Maybe RM1 for every cubic meter of water. If they have to use more, they have to pay more, and that is fair. If the water is subsidized, people will take it for granted and waste more water instead coz they dont care about saving water. And this will not encourage water saving amongst consumers in Penang. In Malaysia, people are using 300 litters/capita/day daily, and it's almost double the benchmark that was recommended by the United Nation (UN) which is 165 LCD. While in Singapore, they are using only 150 LCD per day, in India 100 LCD per day and in Africa 50 LCD per day! Selangor government subsidize 1.5 million household 'free water' (less than 20 cubic meter) due to their election promise while it is a state which is running out of water and have to buy water from Pahang. Ironic? Absolutely.
So guys, let us be a caring society. Save water for life. Make every drop counts. Water is vital in life, so save as much water as you can because we never know what lies ahead. We can change the world if we start saving water from now. For our family, and for our future.
Think about our future. We can make a change.
Resources:
- Articles by Prof. Chan Ngai Weng, President of Water Watch Penang
- Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP)
- www.waterwatchpenang.org
- www.unwater.org
- The Star Newspaper articles
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