Guess how much water do you used compared to the rest of the world?

How much water do Malaysians use compared to the rest of the world?

Have you ever checked your water bill to understand how much water does your household use every month? Do you know where the water goes when you flush it down the toilet or kitchen sink?

Despite more frequent and longer water disruptions in recent years, especially in urban areas, most of us continue to take our water supply and disposal for granted. This interactive webpage will help you understand the issues and reveal some surprises.

Compare Malaysian household water usage with other countries

Move your finger or hover over the chart to make your guess.

Your guess: 0 litres

Answer201 litres

Household water consumption of selected countries

The latest data shows that in 2017 the average Malaysian used 201 litres of water a day for household purposes like drinking, cooking, washing and showering. This number is 22% more than the 165 liters recommended by the United Nations. We also used more water compared to our neighbours like Singapore (143 litres in 2017) and Thailand (90 litres in 2011).

Let’s start with a basic test of your water knowledge.

How much water do you think each Malaysian uses daily for household purposes compared to other countries?

Water use within
Malaysia

Household water consumption by state in 2017

Penangites tops the chart with 277 litres per day, almost 3 times the amount used by Sabahans which is 108 litres per day. The data also show that domestic water consumption has little to do with people's income or urbanisation level as the top five states consist of both wealthier, more developed states (Pulau Pinang and Melaka) and those with lower income and less urbanised states (Perlis and Perak).

Only three states - Sarawak, Kelantan and Sabah - meet the water use amount recommended by the United Nations. However this doesn't mean people in those states are better water savers. Compared to other states, fewer people (lower than 90%) in the three states have access to public water supply. Their water use from other alternative sources such as wells and rivers is not recorded in the data above.

However, the average number doesn’t paint the real picture because the amount of water used varies largely in different areas. Let's take a look at water consumption for household purposes in different states.

Wastewater
Disposal
Most of the water we use is flushed down the toilet or kitchen sink as wastewater but the story doesn’t end there.

Wastewater has to be treated and disposed through an efficient sewerage system so that harmful substances won’t go into our rivers and sea causing pollution or spreading diseases.

Hence the more water we use (or waste), the more wastewater we need to treat, and the treatment process costs a lot of money.
With the exception of Sabah, Sarawak, Kelantan and several local authorities in Johor, the sewerage system in Malaysia is developed and maintained by Indah Water Konsortium (IWK), a company owned by the federal government.

Its sewerage service covers some 26 million people, which is slightly over 80% of Malaysia’s total population.

Dirty, difficult and
dangerous
“Dirty, difficult and dangerous” might be the best way to describe the works done by IWK employees as they have to deal with the sludge from our toilets on a daily basis.
One of the services provided by IWK, as shown in this video, is the desludging of individual septic tank in residential houses.
It is the process of emptying septic tank that is not connected to the sewerage network which should be done once every two years. Without scheduled desludging, the septic tank cannot function efficiently and untreated sewage will be released into rivers, killing aquatic life and threatening public health.
Individual septic tank is the most common form of sewerage system in Malaysia. There are over 1.2 million premises with such tanks in the country.

How much does wastewater
cost us?

Compare Malaysian sewerage charge with other foreign cities

Move your finger or hover over the chart to make your guess. (1m³ = 1000 litres)

Your guess: RM 0

AnswerRM0.34

Not bad! Looks like you know the situation well.

Sewerage fee per m³ in selected cities

The sewerage charge that we have been paying is one of the lowest in the world. Almost all residential houses in Malaysia pay only RM8 per month regardless of how much wastewater they dispose. The rate for low-cost houses is only RM2 per month.

If we take the global average rate of RM4.15(US$0.99) per m³, a family of 4 with each person using 200 litres water per day, would have to pay almost RM100 each month, over 12 times higher than what we are paying now!

By now you must be delighted by this fact but you might also be wondering how can IWK make the charge so cheap? The answer is in the next section.

Every house that is served by IWK sewerage system has to pay a monthly sewerage fee to IWK. Without checking your IWK bill, do you know how much we are paying in comparison to other foreign cities?

The challengeGovernment subsidy

Government financial asistance to IWK
(2003-2018)

The amazingly low sewerage charge that we are paying now is far from sufficient to meet IWK’s operating cost, hence IWK has to rely on government financial assistance to survive.
The government has been subsidying IWK since 2001. The annual assistance was less than RM100 million in the early 2000s.
Population growth and ever-increasing water use over the years mean higher operating cost for IWK. To maintain the cheap sewerage cost, the government has to pump in more money. The subsidy amount more than doubled in 2005 and reached a historical height of RM250 million in 2009.
At the same time, IWK took over more and more sewage treatment plants, serving many more Malaysians. The number of plants maintained by IWK has doubled from 3,253 in 2001 to 6,823 in May 2019. Among those sewage treatment plants, 97% of them met the requirements set by the Department of Environment, meaning the wastewater treated by those plants is clean enough to be discharged into our rivers.
The additional burden did not come with a higher price. IWK was able to deliver outstanding performance without asking for more financial assistance. The annual subsidy was kept at RM200 million from 2013 to 2016.
With more cost optimisation exercises and increasing collection rate, IWK was able to reduce the government assistance in the last 3 years to RM140 million in 2018. This amount will drop to RM110 million in 2020, according to the government budget.
The government subsidy from 2001 to June 2019 totals up to a whopping RM2.68 billion. If the money were to be used to build schools, we could have 357 new schools or 19 schools each year.

Will you help?

IWK has done its part to keep our rivers and waterways clean from pollutants and hazardous substances.

However, if IWK continues to rely on government financial assistance for its operation, it would not be sustainable for both IWK and the government. The taxpayer money can be used for more meaningful purposes such as education.

Without a strong financial foothold, IWK would not be able to sustainably uphold the constantly increasing standards placed on treated wastewater to preserve our environment and public health.

In fact, the current RM8 sewerage charge (or RM2 for low-cost houses) has stayed the same for the past 25 years, since IWK started operation in 1994!

Now that you have a better understanding of the issue, we would like to ask whether you will agree to pay a higher sewerage charge?

How much will you be willing to pay every month?

Do you mind telling IWK more about you so that they can better serve you?

Answer all the questions below and you will be entered into a drawing to enjoy FREE IWK sewerage service for one month.

Gender:

House ownership:

Employment:

Your email:

Thank you for your time and attention!

How much water do Malaysians use compared to the rest of the world?

Let’s start with a basic test of your water knowledge.

Water use within Malaysia

Which state do you live in?

Wastewater Disposal

Dirty, difficult anddangerous

How much does wastewatercost us?

The challengeGovernment subsidy

Will you help?

Water use within
Malaysia

Wastewater
Disposal

Dirty, difficult and
dangerous

How much does wastewater
cost us?