The treatment of the water supply in Malaysia is an interesting question. Malaysia sells much of its water to Singapore, reducing the amount of water they have to treat. The lack of tight pollution controls allows agriculture and industry to pollute the water. That's a source of problems for Malaysian water treatment -- too much pollution to remove cost effectively.
Water supplies all over the world are in danger of becoming too polluted to drink or use. This is not discussed much, at least outside the scientific world, and this is dangerous because something needs to be done in many countries before there is no hope. Malaysia is known for supplying Singapore a large supply of water each year, because Singapore does not have its own water sources. Consequently, Malaysia is having problems supplying clean and drinkable water to its citizens, which is why they are trying to find ways of treating the existing Malaysian water supply.
There is legislation in Malaysia that proposes a change in how its water supply is controlled. This legislation is endeavoring to turn the control of the water supply over to their federal government. This is not going over very well, however, and some of the states are fighting against this legislation. They want to keep the control of their state's water supply so that they can take care of their own citizens. They fear that this control shift could make the water rates increase, water rationed to the state's citizens, or control will be turned over to foreign investors. The government has stressed that this change is to help improve services and they will not allow foreign investors to take control, but activists groups are still up in arms about this legislation.
The treatment of the water supply in Malaysia is in danger in many locations because the treatment plants are being strained by the pollution levels in the water. This pollution has killed much of the aquatic life, which is very sad and it can cause significant problems in the future if they are not careful. This strain is damaging some of the water treatment plants and this can be a significant factor in their water supply in the next decade or so if the citizens do not take care. The big contributors of pollution in the Linggi River are pig farms and the palm tree oil plant. If changes are not made in how the Malaysians do business and live life, then they will not have water to drink in the future.
Malaysia supplies a great deal of water to Singapore each year. It is estimated that Singapore purchases 214 million liters daily from Malaysia. Singapore has an agreement with Malaysia to purchase water from them until 2061, but they are trying to work out a new agreement to continue purchasing water from them beyond that date. This agreement is not easy, however, because Malaysia wants more money and Singapore does not want to pay their increased price. This is causing some strained relations between these two countries.
The supply and treatment of the water supply in Malaysia is in big danger if the Malaysian industries, government, and citizens do not begin to take better care of their water sources and their water treatment plants. I hope that they will begin to see how much damage that they are doing to their water sources before it is too late.
