Will our water woes ever be solved?

ACCORDING to the latest statistics of the Word Bank, Malaysia received an average of 2,875mm or 113 inches, of rain for 2011.

That puts us in the top five countries with the most rainfall in the world.

Yet every year during the dry season, we have a water shortage problem.

This year is one of the worst that I can remember.

The water rationing exercise has been going on for more than a month now and has been extended for another month in the state of Selangor, with no end in sight.

This water rationing exercise is being extended to other states as well. It has affected thousands of residential households, as well as businesses.

How can a country with some of the highest rainfall in the world have a water shortage problem?

Lack of foresight is probably the main reason for our problem.

For whatever reason, our federal and state governments can’t seem to find a solution to this.

The impasse between the Selangor state government, the Federal Government and the water concessionaires keeps dragging on.

The mistake of privatising our nation’s water assets is starting to haunt us.

No one seems to care that water is the most basic necessity in our daily lives.

Profit and political power to control trumps them all.

At the end of the day, it is us, the citizens who suffer the consequences.

So another month will pass, then another year. Before we know it, year 2020 will be at our doorstep, the year Malaysia supposedly will become a developed country.

Will our water problem be resolved by then? I doubt it.

CRYING-FOR-HELP MALAYSIAN
Puchong, Selangor