1 day Ago By Robin Augustin
KUALA LUMPUR: A think tank for water and energy has called on water authorities to replace leaking pipes in a bid to curb theft.Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia president S. Piarapakaran said water leaks and theft accounted for around 70 per cent of non-revenue water (NRW).
In 2023, NRW losses stood at RM2.32 billion, with the figure expected to rise to RM4.05 billion a year if this issue is not resolved.
"Water theft has been happening for some time. It is not new," Piarapakaran told the New Straits Times.He said water was often stolen through unauthorised connections, which were more likely in suburban or rural areas.
"It is more difficult to steal water in housing estates or city centres, especially in places like Penang, Melaka and Kuala Lumpur." He was commenting on SPAN's revelation that it had uncovered widespread treated water theft by companies running multi-billion ringgit projects.Piarapakaran said NRW was detected when the amount of water billed did not tally with the volume channelled into an area.
He said water companies should be able to detect leaks using technology, though theft would be harder to trace as it often happened in remote or secluded areas."We have the law. What is needed is enforcement, but you can't expect the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) to enforce the law by themselves.
They only have around 500 personnel. This is where the water companies need to do their part by first replacing the leaking pipes."Once you stop the leaks, it would be easier to detect NRW as it would likely be due to theft.
"He said this would be more efficient than manually searching for unauthorised connections, which was time-consuming and labour-intensive.Under Section 123 of the Water Services Industry Act, it is an offence to make an unlicensed water connection.© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd.
