Our drinking water is of high quality

I READ with great interest and amusement the statements, figures, and sentiments brought forth by the various quarters – politicians, academicians, industry regulators – in the media over the subject of our drinking water: its safe(ty), health, quality, contamination,

E. Coli, etc.

By the same token, I would like to express my impartial opinion over this subject, based on my role and experience in the water supply industry since 1976 till the present.

The central issue is: Is our water safe to consume? The answer is yes! Is our water safe to drink directly from the pipe? The answer again is generally yes – with certain exceptions, in unusual situations.

The reality is, the water supply operators (corporations, private companies, authorities) had scored very high in operating and producing 17,032 million litres/day of treated water (2017) from the 500 water treatment plants in the country, and conveying the treated water to consumers’ taps via 150,356km of pipelines. This is no small feat indeed!

The treated water is very seriously subjected to a rigorous monitoring and surveillance pro- gramme and procedure by the water operators themselves, the Health Ministry, and effectively by SPAN (the water regulator) based on the Manual On Drinking Water Quality Surveillance (Health Ministry; first published in November 1983). It involves a total of 38 physical, chemical, and microbiological parameters with samples procured from 6,108 sampling stations strategically located not only at the treated plant outlet but throughout the distribution system, to the consumers’ premises.

A mammoth total of 190,000 samples are collected and analysed principally by the Department of Chemistry based on the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater or other approved procedure, each year, on a daily basis.

The test of the pudding is in the eating! Based on the records/data collected and collated, evidence has proven convincingly that the treated water quality supplied to the consumers complied effectively with the National Standard for Drinking Water Quality (Health Ministry; revised December 2000, second version January 2004). This is testament to the fact that our drinking water is safe and of a high and/or acceptable quality, and therefore can generally be consumed right from the tap.

In fact, Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili, (the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water) declared that for 2014 (The Star, May 20, 2015), 96.46% of the treated water produced by the water operators complied strictly with the standard.

The performance had climbed steadily to a commendable level of 97.69% for 2017 (source: SPAN) and is projected to achieve a zero defect compliance (which is rare even for advanced nations) in the years to come as a result of a persistent and concerted effort by the water operators to achieve the goal. Our hats off to them!

It is identified that the residual shortfall of around 2% (non-compliance) is traced to the abnormal incidences emanating from the enormous network of trunk and distribution system and the principal causes are listed as due to hydraulic disturbances/perturbations which do occur occasionally due to unprecedented breakdowns, back-flow siphonage, forced closure, flooding incidences, dead-ends in the system.

The point is, consumers should also be savvy enough to assess these occasional events (with the help of the public announcements made by the water operators) and to resort to boiling the water temporarily, when necessary.

Throughout the last four decades, there has not been a single incidence of an outbreak of a waterborne disease (e.g., cholera, typhoid, dysentry) attributed to the public water supply, but rather due to unhygienic food preparation (Penang) and from consuming untreated raw water (Kelantan). These are localised isolated incidents.

Had it been due to a public water supply source, the health impact would have been widespread and catastrophic as evidenced in other developing countries throughout the globe. Even advanced countries are not totally free from such incidences (Milwaukee, USA, 1993; Sydney, Australia, 1994; Oulu, Finland, 1998; Ontario, Canada, 2000; Northampton, England, 2008).

Isn’t this strong, significant proof that our water supply is of a high quality? Indeed!

Much has been spoken about E. Coli in the distribution system. Let us examine the issue rationally. The performance of our water supply operators has proven that, based on the Quality Assurance Programme, National Drinking Water Quality Surveillance (strictly monitored by the Health Ministry), for 2017, 99.95% of the water supplied complied with the standard set (0 MPN/100ml) for microbiological removal (meaning only 0.05% did not comply).

In fact, 12 out of the 18 water operators recorded an impressive 100% conformance. Hence is it not significantly true the claims made by the minister and the chief executive officer of SPAN, that our drinking water is virtually free from the presence of E. Coli (The Star, Oct 21, 2018)?

Throughout the last four decades, there has not been a single incidence of an outbreak of a waterborne disease.

DATUK IR. DR MOHD AKBAR JOHARI Former Director of Water Works Department, Negri Sembilan