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Rainwater harvesting as an alternative water resource in Malaysia: potential, policies and development
Accepted Manuscript Rainwater harvesting as an alternative water resource in Malaysia: potential, policies and development Khai Ern Lee, Mazlin Mokhtar, Marlia Mohd Hanafiah, Azhar Abdul Halim, Jamaludin Badusah PII:
S0959-6526(16)30128-7
DOI:
10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.03.060
Reference:
JCLP 6909
To appear in:
Journal of Cleaner Production
Received Date: 4 September 2015 Revised Date:
23 March 2016
Accepted Date: 23 March 2016
Please cite this article as: Lee KE, Mokhtar M, Mohd Hanafiah M, Abdul Halim A, Badusah J, Rainwater harvesting as an alternative water resource in Malaysia: potential, policies and development, Journal of Cleaner Production (2016), doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.03.060. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
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Rainwater harvesting as an alternative water resource in Malaysia: potential, policies
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and development
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Khai Ern Lee1*, Mazlin Mokhtar1, Marlia Mohd Hanafiah2, Azhar Abdul Halim2, Jamaludin
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Badusah3 1
Research Centre for Sustainability Science & Governance (SGK), Institute for Environment
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and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi,
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Selangor, Malaysia
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Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia 3
Department of Teaching and Learning Innovation, Faculty of Education, Universiti
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School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and
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Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
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*Corresponding author’s email: [email protected]
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ABSTRACT
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Some regions in Malaysia is facing water scarcity problem nowadays despite Malaysia has
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high quantity of water resources. The increasing water demand has triggered the initiatives to
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look for alternative water supply. Rainwater harvesting was proposed by the government as
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part of the solutions to mitigate water scarcity problem. Literatures associated with rainwater
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harvesting were obtained from various sources. These literatures were reviewed and have
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been instrumental to analyze the potential, policies and development of rainwater harvesting
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in Malaysia. This article discusses the potential of rainwater harvesting in Malaysia under the
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dynamic climate as a case study. The challenges of rainwater harvesting development in
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terms of environment, policy, economy, social and technical are pointed with the way
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forward for rainwater harvesting. It is anticipated that rainwater harvesting is going to play
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the role as an alternative water resource in the country. In order to promote rainwater
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harvesting in Malaysia, inter-ministerial and multi-stakeholders co-operations are needed to
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mainstream this alternative water resource into the national strategy.
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Keywords: rainwater harvesting, Malaysia, policies, development, climate change
1.
Introduction
The human population has doubled from 3.9 billion to 7.0 billion over the last decades,
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but the water demand has increased three-fold. According to Food and Agriculture
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Organization (2015), the world’s need for water is growing twice as fast as the population.
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By 2025, about 1.8 billion people are expected to experience water scarcity, while two-thirds
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of the population will experience water stress (United Nations, 2014). The rapid growths in
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population, urbanization, industrialization and irrigated agriculture have imposed growing
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pressure on existing water resources. Water resources shortage has given a negative impact
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on the development of a city and the basic lives of the residents, and it has become the main
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factor obstructing the development of a society (Hashim et al., 2013). Thus, an alternative
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water resource is needed to address the water shortage issues because sustainable water
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resources management can be a catalyst for socioeconomic development for the country
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(Raja Zainal Abidin, 2004).
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Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is proposed as the concept of accumulation and
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deposition of rainwater for use instead of allowing it to runoff. RWH systems are able to
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simultaneously address the water scarcity problem and reduce the dependence on domestic
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water supply (Gois et al., 2014; Sample & Liu, 2014; Thomas et al., 2014; Unami et al., 2014;
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Morales-Pinzon et al., 2015). In Malaysia, the government began to promote the use of RWH
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system in 1999. With the recent increasing water shortage and rationing events, RWH has
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started to gain its practical application. The present article probes the potential of RWH
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development in Malaysia under the dynamic climate as a case study by reviewing the
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government policies associated with RWH development and discussing about the challenges
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as well as the way forward of RWH development in Malaysia.
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2.
Methods
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This research utilized case study method in examine contemporary issues whereby the
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relevant behaviors cannot be manipulated and the history as well as perspectives of real social
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and natural systems are considered and the phenomenon cannot be separated from their
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context (Yin, 2009; Lazano & Huisingh, 2011).
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Malaysia was selected for in-depth case study to study the potential, policies and
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development in regard to RWH as an alternative water resource due to its water shortage
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problems lately. Firstly, literatures including journals, proceedings and reports over the past
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20 years were obtained from libraries, ministry resource centers and internet. Secondly, the
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policies, technical data and findings obtained from these literatures were classified into
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chronological order that may be derived from the researchers’ readings and research. The
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literatures in chronological order were further defined and analyzed based upon literature
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review. Finally, the relationships of policies and development path were clearly recognized
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and these helped to provide new insights and offered the researchers a systematic way for the
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discussion of challenges and way forward for RWH development in Malaysia.
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3.
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Malaysian
Dynamic
Climate
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Potential
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Rainwater
Harvesting
Characterization
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Being a developing nation, Malaysia cannot escape from water issues either. Malaysia
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is a tropical country, having an average of 2400 mm annual precipitation, which is relatively
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rich in water resources (Che-Ain et al., 2009). Malaysia is geographically located in between
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Therefore, the Malaysian natural climate variability is strongly influenced by the Southeast
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Asia Maritime monsoon. The surface climate is influenced by two monsoon regimes namely
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the southwest monsoon (dry season) and the northeast monsoon (wet season). The southwest
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monsoon is characterized with low level southwesterly winds, it starts in May and usually
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ends in August while the northeast monsoon is dominated by northeasterly winds that cross
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over the South China Sea, and it starts in November and usually ends in February of the
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following year. Intermittently during this period, strong pulses of wind penetrate to the most
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southern region of the South China Sea and bring relatively high precipitation (Chang et al.,
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2005).
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Malaysia had never experienced any serious water crisis in the past few decades.
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However, rainfalls are unevenly distributed in Malaysia, leaving some areas to experience dry
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spells while other areas have occurrences of floods. Especially in urban areas like Kuala
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Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya are facing water shortage nowadays, despite having tropical
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climate and rich water resources. This situation was exacerbated by the El Nino phenomenon
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which had caused a severe drought in 1997/98, giving a great impact to the country
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particularly on the public water supply sector and residents. Malaysian climate is largely
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influenced by the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon and Indian Ocean
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Dipole (IOD). These El Nino and La Nina phenomena have led to climate variability and
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extreme weather.
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The dynamic climate event affects precipitation whereby it causes dynamic weather,
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fluctuations in temperature and precipitation which could affect the yield of RWH (Tangang
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et al., 2012). Kavvas et al. (2007) shows average annual precipitation for Malaysia in Figure
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1 and the associated regions are shown in Figure 2. A decrease in average annual
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precipitation (mm) is projected in high population urban areas namely Klang, Johor, Selangor,
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(mm) is projected in areas namely Kelantan, Northeast Coast, Pahang, Perak, Kedah and
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Terengganu (Cain, 2014). Therefore, the potential of RWH has to be studied by considering
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precipitation projection and impacts of climate change on precipitation before the RWH
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system being deployed (Youn et al., 2012).
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In May 2014, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) of
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Malaysia advised the nation to be prepared for El Nino phenomenon and drought during the
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southwest monsoon from May to September 2014. RWH hence emerged as an alternative to
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prepare for drought (Lee, 2014). By harvesting rainwater, it is able to prevent water resource
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from runoff into drainage system. At the same time, RWH is able to reduce the water
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footprint through reducing dependence on domestic water supply from dam and reservoir
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(Vialle et al., 2015). However, the increasing water demand needs a systematic support to
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local innovations on RWH to provide an alternative water supply and reduce the domestic
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water demand.
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Rainwater Harvesting Policies and Development Table 1 shows the list of policies and guidelines concerning RWH in Malaysia based
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on chronological order after the historical analysis. In 1999, the “Guidelines for Installing a
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Rainwater Collection and Utilization System” was first introduced by the Ministry of
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Housing and Local Government (KPKT) after 1998 drought event. It was the initial phase of
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RWH policy in Malaysia. It aimed to reduce the dependence on treated water and provide a
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convenient buffer in times of shortfall in water supply. The guidelines proposed the
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construction of rainwater collecting tanks in urban area instead of continuing to build giant
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dams upstream and it served as a reference for those who want to install a rainwater
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collection and utilization system (Che-Ain et al., 2009). However, the implementation of the
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first RWH policy was not really successful back then. This was because RWH was still very
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alien to Malaysian, it generally did not deal with cost and implementation issues and most of
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the systems were not available locally (Mohd.-Shawahid et al., 2007). In 2004, one cabinet paper was prepared by the KPKT and submitted to the National
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Water Resources Council to encourage government buildings to install a rainwater collection
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and utilization system. The council encouraged installing rainwater collection and utilization
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but it was not mandatory. Two government agencies, namely the Department of Irrigation
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and Drainage (DID) and the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication (KTAK), were
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the pioneers in implementing RWH system in their buildings. However, the acceptance of
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RWH system was also not satisfactory in the beginning stage whereby it was only introduced
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in a few new housing development projects (Mohd.-Shawahid et al., 2007). National
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Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM), which is under the purview of the
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Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE), has been actively involving in
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researching, designing and installation of RWH systems for government buildings, mosques,
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residential houses and schools. And, NAHRIM has now become the key driver for RWH in
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Malaysia. The RWH project carried out by NAHRIM on double storey terrace house at
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Taman Wangsa Melawati, Kuala Lumpur showed that RWH is able to save up to 34% of the
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household supply (Shaaban, 2009).
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In 2005, The Federal Constitution transferred all matters related to water supply
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service from State List to Concurrent List to enable the Federal Government involve in the
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water service sector. On top of that, the KTAK introduced two new water related laws,
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namely Water Services Industry Act 2006 and Water Services Commission Act 2006. Under
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the new acts, the Ministry is encouraging RWH system implementation. On March 27, 2006,
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the Prime Minister announced that RWH would be made mandatory to large buildings
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(Mohd.-Shawahid
et al., 2007). Since then, new sets of guideline were introduced.
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“Rainwater Harvesting: Guidebook on Planning and Design” was introduced by DID in 2009,
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followed by “Guideline on Eco-Efficiency in Water Infrastructure for Public Buildings in
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Malaysia” by NAHRIM in 2011 and “Urban Stormwater Management Manual for Malaysia
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2nd edition” by DID in 2012. In 2011, the Malaysian government imposed residential building (bungalow and semi-
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detached) and all types of building with roof area equal or more than 100 m2 in all states of
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Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territories to install RWH system through the
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amendment of the Uniform Building By-Laws 1984, which was approved by the National
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Council of Local Government. In 2013, the “Guidelines for Installing a Rainwater Collection
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and Utilization System 1999” was revised and published by the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing,
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Housing and Local Government (formally Ministry of Housing and Local Government)
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whereby local governments required all developments must comply with the condition to
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install RWH system within their development before the Development Order or Certificate of
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Completion and Compliance is issued. The revised guidelines also require licensed plumbers
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who are registered with National Water Services Commission (SPAN) to perform installation
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of RWH system. However, the Research, Development and Innovation Division of SPAN
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does not approve any specific materials and equipments of RWH system as raw water
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(untreated rainwater) is not under the purview of SPAN, although the revised guidelines
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states that the use of material in the RWH system shall comply and be approved by the
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Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM) and SPAN. For the
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integrated system of RWH and public water supply, SPAN has regulated the RWH
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installation and connection in any building category. Backflow preventers or similar
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equipment shall be installed at the RWH system to prevent untreated rainwater to flow
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reversely or being back-siphoning to the public water supply system. It is also prevent
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possible contamination caused by untreated rainwater to the public water supply plumbing
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system and eventually consumed by the household (Lee, 2014). Currently, the detailed installation of RWH system is very much relying on the
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supplier’s specification though the RWH system shall in general be designed according to
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good plumbing design practices to conform to existing building by-laws and regulations.
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Thus, SPAN has announced that the Water Services Industry (Water Reticulation and
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Plumbing) Rules 2014 and the Water Services Industry (Water Services Deposits, Fees, and
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Charges) Regulations 2014 have been implemented throughout Peninsular Malaysia,
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including Federal Territories, to standardize the water services technical requirements and
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specified that the requirement for non-potable water supply system is applicable to the RWH
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system, started in February 2014. Rainwater is collected for general washing and gardening
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purposes, but the common use of rainwater in a building is for toilet flushing whereby the
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rainwater cistern is connected to the water closet fittings to minimize the use of treated water
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for non-potable use.
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Challenges
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Five interconnected challenges have been generally identified based on our analysis,
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namely environmental, policy, economic, social and technical aspects. These challenges need
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to be addressed in the planning, funding, construction, operation and maintenance, in order to
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consolidate RWH as an alternative water resource.
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Environment: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment
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(IPCC, 2013) reported that it is virtually certain that there will be warmer and fewer cold
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days and nights over most land in the 21st century. Anthropogenic warming is very likely
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to increase the area affected by droughts. Peninsular Malaysia is projected to have lower
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average precipitation during December through February, which used to be relatively
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especially during the dry season from May to August associated with climate change in
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certain regions, could cause the RWH system ineffective if precipitation falls below a
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minimum threshold or not sufficient to hold a reliable supply (Che-Ain et al., 2009;
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Shaaban, 2009). Therefore, the changes in rainfall pattern due to climate change need to
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be taken into account for designing RWH system.
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Policy: Despite several guidelines have been launched by the Malaysian government since 1999, RWH is yet to gain much public popularity. The most encouraging
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development was introduced by the government to make RWH mandatory in March 27,
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2006. However, this policy is only applied to large buildings like factories, schools or
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bungalows. It is certainly a right step to make it mandatory despite the fact that there is
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still lack of robust policy to promote the installation of RWH in Malaysia (Mohd.-
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Shawahid et al., 2007).
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Economics: The average water tariff of Malaysia is 0.39 USD/m3. Comparing to that of
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Indonesia (0.77 USD/m3) and Singapore (1.88 USD/m3), water tariff in Malaysia is
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deemed as one of the lowest in the region. However, the cost of installing a RWH system
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in Malaysia is estimated between USD 400 to USD 3000. The payback time could take
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years and such a cost-benefit trade-off makes it uneconomical to install RWH system in
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view of its low return of investment. The scaling-down of RWH system to a smaller unit
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could make the installation cost cheaper and hence make the RWH economical. In
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addition, the lack of incentives also makes Malaysian slow in accepting RWH system. As
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practised in Japan and elsewhere the government may need to provide subsidies to
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encourage the public to install RWH (Mohd.-Shawahid et al., 2007).
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Social: Average urban water use in Malaysia is 344 liter/capital/day which is much higher than 165 liter/capital/day that recommended by the United Nations. Due to the “paradox
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resources in the country and RWH system is a “nice to have” facility within a building
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and it might not be needed (Che-Ain et al., 2009). Such a public perception has given the
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impression that it is unnecessary to harvest rainwater as their alternative water resource.
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Nevertheless, RWH is self sufficiency and able to reduce the dependence on domestic
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water supply by developing an appreciation for water resources among the residents in
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the urban area. •
Technical: According to Hashim et al. (2013), 58% of water supply can be provided by
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RWH and 41% must be supplied by the water utility. The optimization of the RWH
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system design is crucial to meet the supply and demand network at optimal reliability.
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There are many technical parameters to be taken into account for RWH, namely rainfall
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characteristics, catchment area (roof area), cistern storage size, rainwater demand (for
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non-potable purposes) and overall water use pattern. RWH system could be ineffective if
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other technical parameters such as first flush volume and losses on the roof through
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evaporation and splashing have been overlooked. Therefore, innovative technical solution
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such as rainwater recycling is needed to increase the yield of RWH.
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6.
Way Forward
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Dynamic and extreme weather due to the climate change are expected to leave a great
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impact on the environment, particularly the water resources. There is a general human
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response to adapt and mitigate the sufferings of water shortage associated with such climate
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extremes (Kavvas et al., 2007). Human may resort to modify dwelling environment by
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adapting new strategies to optimize the utility of available or alternative water resources. A
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comprehensive knowledge of climate fluctuations and corresponding adaptation and
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mitigation are crucial to progress towards sustainable development. Efforts to develop
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policy (Pandey et al., 2003). Therefore, RWH development has to be mainstreamed,
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institutionalized and up-scaled through the national water and climate change policy; and
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through enacting legislations and supporting with detailed guidelines, the development of
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RWH system will be authoritative and organized. It has also been noted that the cost of
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installation, maintenance and usage of RWH is much higher than that of domestic water
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supply. To promote RWH system as an alternative for the water supply, a comparison of the
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cost of RWH with domestic water supply has to be done. The government has to provide
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subsidies and rebates to encourage the public to install RWH system as done in other
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countries like Japan, Germany and Australia. The Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and
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Water (KeTTHA), the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government
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(KPKT), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) in association with mass
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media have to conduct education and awareness campaigns to increase the popularity of
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RWH to the public. In addition, the Ministry of Education (MOE) should also incorporate
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RWH into school education curriculum in both primary and secondary schools to ensure our
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younger generation is educated to conserving water resources for a better life (Mohd.-
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Shawahid et al., 2007). RWH perhaps would not be the most adequate solution in the short-
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term for alternative water resource, but the reduction of water consumption would be possible.
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Therefore, innovative technical solutions are needed to be adopted to retrofit RWH into the
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new and existing buildings to make RWH an integrated part of the water supply system.
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Other alternative water resources for example, air conditioning and cooling tower water can
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also be recycled and reused by integrating into RWH system to reduce water consumption
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and the dependence on domestic water supply.
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Conclusions
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agriculture have imposed growing pressure on the existing water resources. The public
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should therefore adopt the concept of sustainability in conserving water resources because
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water resources have shrunken further with the rising threats of dynamic climate and extreme
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weather. In response to climate extremes, RWH has emerged as one of the measures to
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enhance the resilience of human society towards water shortage problem. A case study has
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been conducted in Malaysia whereby several government agencies have introduced and
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implemented several guidelines and initiatives with regard to RWH. However, RWH has yet
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to be mainstreamed into the national water and climate change policy as an adaptation
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strategy to climate change, especially in urban areas where water resources are fast depleting
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due to rapid increase in population and water consumption. We suggest that inter-ministerial
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and multi-stakeholders co-operations are needed to promote the development of RWH in the
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country to be authoritative and organized as an alternative water resource.
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Acknowledgement
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The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by Universiti
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Kebangsaan Malaysia through Geran Universiti Penyelidikan (GUP-2014-034) and Dana
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Impak Perdana (DIP-2015-008).
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study in France. Resour. Conserv. Recy. 102, 178-184.
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Yin, R.K., 2009. Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 4th ed. SAGE Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, California.
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Youn, S-G., Chung, E-S., Kang, W. G., Sung, J. H. 2012. Probabilistic estimation of the
349
storage capacity of a rainwater harvesting system considering climate change. Resour.
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Conserv. Recy. 65, 136-144.
351
Internet resources
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FAO, 2015. < http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/greenercities/en/whyuph/>
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United Nations, 2014. < http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml >
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Glossary
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DID: Department of Irrigation and Drainage
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ENSO: El Nino-Southern Oscillation
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FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization
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IOD: Indian Ocean Dipole
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IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
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KeTTHA: Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water
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KPKT: Ministry of Housing and Local Government/ Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing
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and Local Government
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KTAK: Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication
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MOE: Ministry of Education
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MOSTI: Ministry of Science, Technology and Technology and Innovation
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NAHRIM: National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia
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NRE: Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
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RWH: Rain Water Harvesting
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SIRIM: Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia
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SPAN: National Water Services Commission
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2009 2011
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Table 1 The list of policies and guidelines concerning RWH in Malaysia. No Guidelines Department / Agency 1 Guidelines for Installing a Ministry of Housing and Local Rainwater Collection and Utilization Government System 2 Rainwater Harvesting: Guidebook Department of Irrigation and on Planning and Design Drainage Malaysia 3 Guideline on Eco-Efficiency in National Hydraulic Research Water Infrastructure for public Institute of Malaysia Buildings in Malaysia 4 Urban Stormwater Management Department of Irrigation and nd Manual for Malaysia, MSMA 2 Drainage Malaysia Edition 5 Panduan Pelaksanaan Inisiatif Federal Town and Country Pembangunan Kejiranan Hijau – Planning Department Sistem Pengumpulan dan Penggunaan Semula Air Hujan 6 Garis Panduan Perancangan Federal Town and Country Kejiranan Hijau Planning Department 7 Garis Panduan Sistem Pengumpulan Federal Town and Country dan Penggunaan Air Hujan Planning Department, Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government 8 Urban Stormwater Management – Department of Standards Part 6: Rainwater Harvesting, Malaysia MS2526-6:2014
2012
2012
2012 2013
2014
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Figure 1 Average annual precipitation in Peninsular Malaysia (Kavvas et al., 2007).
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Regions Southern Peninsular (10)
Johor (9)
1500
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3500
Pahang (6)
500
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2000
Selangor (3)
1000
Klang (2)
Kelantan (5)
Terengganu (4)
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Northeast Cost (11)
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Perak (7)
West Coast (1)
Precipitation (mm)
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1984 - 1993 (a) 2041 - 2050 (b)
3000
2500
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Figure 2 Sub-regions of Peninsular Malaysia where the impact of climate change is assessed (Kavvas et al., 2007).
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RWH was proposed by the government to mitigate water crisis. Malaysian government has implemented guidelines with regard to RWH. RWH needs to be streamlined into national policy. Inter-ministry co-operation is needed to promote RWH.
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S0959-6526(16)30128-7
DOI:
10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.03.060
Reference:
JCLP 6909
To appear in:
Journal of Cleaner Production
Received Date: 4 September 2015 Revised Date:
23 March 2016
Accepted Date: 23 March 2016
Please cite this article as: Lee KE, Mokhtar M, Mohd Hanafiah M, Abdul Halim A, Badusah J, Rainwater harvesting as an alternative water resource in Malaysia: potential, policies and development, Journal of Cleaner Production (2016), doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.03.060. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
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Rainwater harvesting as an alternative water resource in Malaysia: potential, policies
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and development
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Khai Ern Lee1*, Mazlin Mokhtar1, Marlia Mohd Hanafiah2, Azhar Abdul Halim2, Jamaludin
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Badusah3 1
Research Centre for Sustainability Science & Governance (SGK), Institute for Environment
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and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi,
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Selangor, Malaysia
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Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia 3
Department of Teaching and Learning Innovation, Faculty of Education, Universiti
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School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and
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Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
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*Corresponding author’s email: [email protected]
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ABSTRACT
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Some regions in Malaysia is facing water scarcity problem nowadays despite Malaysia has
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high quantity of water resources. The increasing water demand has triggered the initiatives to
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look for alternative water supply. Rainwater harvesting was proposed by the government as
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part of the solutions to mitigate water scarcity problem. Literatures associated with rainwater
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harvesting were obtained from various sources. These literatures were reviewed and have
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been instrumental to analyze the potential, policies and development of rainwater harvesting
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in Malaysia. This article discusses the potential of rainwater harvesting in Malaysia under the
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dynamic climate as a case study. The challenges of rainwater harvesting development in
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terms of environment, policy, economy, social and technical are pointed with the way
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forward for rainwater harvesting. It is anticipated that rainwater harvesting is going to play
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the role as an alternative water resource in the country. In order to promote rainwater
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harvesting in Malaysia, inter-ministerial and multi-stakeholders co-operations are needed to
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mainstream this alternative water resource into the national strategy.
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Keywords: rainwater harvesting, Malaysia, policies, development, climate change
1.
Introduction
The human population has doubled from 3.9 billion to 7.0 billion over the last decades,
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but the water demand has increased three-fold. According to Food and Agriculture
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Organization (2015), the world’s need for water is growing twice as fast as the population.
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By 2025, about 1.8 billion people are expected to experience water scarcity, while two-thirds
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of the population will experience water stress (United Nations, 2014). The rapid growths in
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population, urbanization, industrialization and irrigated agriculture have imposed growing
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pressure on existing water resources. Water resources shortage has given a negative impact
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on the development of a city and the basic lives of the residents, and it has become the main
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factor obstructing the development of a society (Hashim et al., 2013). Thus, an alternative
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water resource is needed to address the water shortage issues because sustainable water
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resources management can be a catalyst for socioeconomic development for the country
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(Raja Zainal Abidin, 2004).
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Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is proposed as the concept of accumulation and
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deposition of rainwater for use instead of allowing it to runoff. RWH systems are able to
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simultaneously address the water scarcity problem and reduce the dependence on domestic
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water supply (Gois et al., 2014; Sample & Liu, 2014; Thomas et al., 2014; Unami et al., 2014;
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Morales-Pinzon et al., 2015). In Malaysia, the government began to promote the use of RWH
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system in 1999. With the recent increasing water shortage and rationing events, RWH has
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started to gain its practical application. The present article probes the potential of RWH
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development in Malaysia under the dynamic climate as a case study by reviewing the
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government policies associated with RWH development and discussing about the challenges
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as well as the way forward of RWH development in Malaysia.
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2.
Methods
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This research utilized case study method in examine contemporary issues whereby the
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relevant behaviors cannot be manipulated and the history as well as perspectives of real social
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and natural systems are considered and the phenomenon cannot be separated from their
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context (Yin, 2009; Lazano & Huisingh, 2011).
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Malaysia was selected for in-depth case study to study the potential, policies and
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development in regard to RWH as an alternative water resource due to its water shortage
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problems lately. Firstly, literatures including journals, proceedings and reports over the past
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20 years were obtained from libraries, ministry resource centers and internet. Secondly, the
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policies, technical data and findings obtained from these literatures were classified into
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chronological order that may be derived from the researchers’ readings and research. The
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literatures in chronological order were further defined and analyzed based upon literature
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review. Finally, the relationships of policies and development path were clearly recognized
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and these helped to provide new insights and offered the researchers a systematic way for the
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discussion of challenges and way forward for RWH development in Malaysia.
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3.
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Malaysian
Dynamic
Climate
and
Potential
of
Rainwater
Harvesting
Characterization
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Being a developing nation, Malaysia cannot escape from water issues either. Malaysia
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is a tropical country, having an average of 2400 mm annual precipitation, which is relatively
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rich in water resources (Che-Ain et al., 2009). Malaysia is geographically located in between
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Therefore, the Malaysian natural climate variability is strongly influenced by the Southeast
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Asia Maritime monsoon. The surface climate is influenced by two monsoon regimes namely
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the southwest monsoon (dry season) and the northeast monsoon (wet season). The southwest
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monsoon is characterized with low level southwesterly winds, it starts in May and usually
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ends in August while the northeast monsoon is dominated by northeasterly winds that cross
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over the South China Sea, and it starts in November and usually ends in February of the
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following year. Intermittently during this period, strong pulses of wind penetrate to the most
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southern region of the South China Sea and bring relatively high precipitation (Chang et al.,
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2005).
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Malaysia had never experienced any serious water crisis in the past few decades.
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However, rainfalls are unevenly distributed in Malaysia, leaving some areas to experience dry
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spells while other areas have occurrences of floods. Especially in urban areas like Kuala
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Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya are facing water shortage nowadays, despite having tropical
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climate and rich water resources. This situation was exacerbated by the El Nino phenomenon
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which had caused a severe drought in 1997/98, giving a great impact to the country
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particularly on the public water supply sector and residents. Malaysian climate is largely
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influenced by the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon and Indian Ocean
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Dipole (IOD). These El Nino and La Nina phenomena have led to climate variability and
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extreme weather.
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The dynamic climate event affects precipitation whereby it causes dynamic weather,
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fluctuations in temperature and precipitation which could affect the yield of RWH (Tangang
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et al., 2012). Kavvas et al. (2007) shows average annual precipitation for Malaysia in Figure
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1 and the associated regions are shown in Figure 2. A decrease in average annual
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precipitation (mm) is projected in high population urban areas namely Klang, Johor, Selangor,
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(mm) is projected in areas namely Kelantan, Northeast Coast, Pahang, Perak, Kedah and
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Terengganu (Cain, 2014). Therefore, the potential of RWH has to be studied by considering
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precipitation projection and impacts of climate change on precipitation before the RWH
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system being deployed (Youn et al., 2012).
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In May 2014, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) of
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Malaysia advised the nation to be prepared for El Nino phenomenon and drought during the
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southwest monsoon from May to September 2014. RWH hence emerged as an alternative to
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prepare for drought (Lee, 2014). By harvesting rainwater, it is able to prevent water resource
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from runoff into drainage system. At the same time, RWH is able to reduce the water
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footprint through reducing dependence on domestic water supply from dam and reservoir
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(Vialle et al., 2015). However, the increasing water demand needs a systematic support to
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local innovations on RWH to provide an alternative water supply and reduce the domestic
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water demand.
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Rainwater Harvesting Policies and Development Table 1 shows the list of policies and guidelines concerning RWH in Malaysia based
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on chronological order after the historical analysis. In 1999, the “Guidelines for Installing a
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Rainwater Collection and Utilization System” was first introduced by the Ministry of
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Housing and Local Government (KPKT) after 1998 drought event. It was the initial phase of
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RWH policy in Malaysia. It aimed to reduce the dependence on treated water and provide a
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convenient buffer in times of shortfall in water supply. The guidelines proposed the
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construction of rainwater collecting tanks in urban area instead of continuing to build giant
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dams upstream and it served as a reference for those who want to install a rainwater
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collection and utilization system (Che-Ain et al., 2009). However, the implementation of the
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first RWH policy was not really successful back then. This was because RWH was still very
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alien to Malaysian, it generally did not deal with cost and implementation issues and most of
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the systems were not available locally (Mohd.-Shawahid et al., 2007). In 2004, one cabinet paper was prepared by the KPKT and submitted to the National
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Water Resources Council to encourage government buildings to install a rainwater collection
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and utilization system. The council encouraged installing rainwater collection and utilization
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but it was not mandatory. Two government agencies, namely the Department of Irrigation
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and Drainage (DID) and the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication (KTAK), were
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the pioneers in implementing RWH system in their buildings. However, the acceptance of
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RWH system was also not satisfactory in the beginning stage whereby it was only introduced
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in a few new housing development projects (Mohd.-Shawahid et al., 2007). National
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Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM), which is under the purview of the
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Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE), has been actively involving in
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researching, designing and installation of RWH systems for government buildings, mosques,
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residential houses and schools. And, NAHRIM has now become the key driver for RWH in
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Malaysia. The RWH project carried out by NAHRIM on double storey terrace house at
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Taman Wangsa Melawati, Kuala Lumpur showed that RWH is able to save up to 34% of the
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household supply (Shaaban, 2009).
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In 2005, The Federal Constitution transferred all matters related to water supply
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service from State List to Concurrent List to enable the Federal Government involve in the
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water service sector. On top of that, the KTAK introduced two new water related laws,
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namely Water Services Industry Act 2006 and Water Services Commission Act 2006. Under
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the new acts, the Ministry is encouraging RWH system implementation. On March 27, 2006,
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the Prime Minister announced that RWH would be made mandatory to large buildings
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(Mohd.-Shawahid
et al., 2007). Since then, new sets of guideline were introduced.
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“Rainwater Harvesting: Guidebook on Planning and Design” was introduced by DID in 2009,
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followed by “Guideline on Eco-Efficiency in Water Infrastructure for Public Buildings in
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Malaysia” by NAHRIM in 2011 and “Urban Stormwater Management Manual for Malaysia
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2nd edition” by DID in 2012. In 2011, the Malaysian government imposed residential building (bungalow and semi-
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detached) and all types of building with roof area equal or more than 100 m2 in all states of
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Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territories to install RWH system through the
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amendment of the Uniform Building By-Laws 1984, which was approved by the National
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Council of Local Government. In 2013, the “Guidelines for Installing a Rainwater Collection
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and Utilization System 1999” was revised and published by the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing,
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Housing and Local Government (formally Ministry of Housing and Local Government)
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whereby local governments required all developments must comply with the condition to
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install RWH system within their development before the Development Order or Certificate of
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Completion and Compliance is issued. The revised guidelines also require licensed plumbers
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who are registered with National Water Services Commission (SPAN) to perform installation
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of RWH system. However, the Research, Development and Innovation Division of SPAN
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does not approve any specific materials and equipments of RWH system as raw water
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(untreated rainwater) is not under the purview of SPAN, although the revised guidelines
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states that the use of material in the RWH system shall comply and be approved by the
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Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM) and SPAN. For the
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integrated system of RWH and public water supply, SPAN has regulated the RWH
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installation and connection in any building category. Backflow preventers or similar
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equipment shall be installed at the RWH system to prevent untreated rainwater to flow
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reversely or being back-siphoning to the public water supply system. It is also prevent
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possible contamination caused by untreated rainwater to the public water supply plumbing
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system and eventually consumed by the household (Lee, 2014). Currently, the detailed installation of RWH system is very much relying on the
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supplier’s specification though the RWH system shall in general be designed according to
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good plumbing design practices to conform to existing building by-laws and regulations.
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Thus, SPAN has announced that the Water Services Industry (Water Reticulation and
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Plumbing) Rules 2014 and the Water Services Industry (Water Services Deposits, Fees, and
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Charges) Regulations 2014 have been implemented throughout Peninsular Malaysia,
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including Federal Territories, to standardize the water services technical requirements and
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specified that the requirement for non-potable water supply system is applicable to the RWH
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system, started in February 2014. Rainwater is collected for general washing and gardening
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purposes, but the common use of rainwater in a building is for toilet flushing whereby the
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rainwater cistern is connected to the water closet fittings to minimize the use of treated water
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for non-potable use.
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5.
Challenges
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Five interconnected challenges have been generally identified based on our analysis,
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namely environmental, policy, economic, social and technical aspects. These challenges need
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to be addressed in the planning, funding, construction, operation and maintenance, in order to
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consolidate RWH as an alternative water resource.
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Environment: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment
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(IPCC, 2013) reported that it is virtually certain that there will be warmer and fewer cold
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days and nights over most land in the 21st century. Anthropogenic warming is very likely
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to increase the area affected by droughts. Peninsular Malaysia is projected to have lower
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average precipitation during December through February, which used to be relatively
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especially during the dry season from May to August associated with climate change in
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certain regions, could cause the RWH system ineffective if precipitation falls below a
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minimum threshold or not sufficient to hold a reliable supply (Che-Ain et al., 2009;
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Shaaban, 2009). Therefore, the changes in rainfall pattern due to climate change need to
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be taken into account for designing RWH system.
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Policy: Despite several guidelines have been launched by the Malaysian government since 1999, RWH is yet to gain much public popularity. The most encouraging
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development was introduced by the government to make RWH mandatory in March 27,
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2006. However, this policy is only applied to large buildings like factories, schools or
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bungalows. It is certainly a right step to make it mandatory despite the fact that there is
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still lack of robust policy to promote the installation of RWH in Malaysia (Mohd.-
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Shawahid et al., 2007).
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Indonesia (0.77 USD/m3) and Singapore (1.88 USD/m3), water tariff in Malaysia is
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deemed as one of the lowest in the region. However, the cost of installing a RWH system
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in Malaysia is estimated between USD 400 to USD 3000. The payback time could take
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years and such a cost-benefit trade-off makes it uneconomical to install RWH system in
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view of its low return of investment. The scaling-down of RWH system to a smaller unit
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could make the installation cost cheaper and hence make the RWH economical. In
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addition, the lack of incentives also makes Malaysian slow in accepting RWH system. As
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practised in Japan and elsewhere the government may need to provide subsidies to
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encourage the public to install RWH (Mohd.-Shawahid et al., 2007).
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Social: Average urban water use in Malaysia is 344 liter/capital/day which is much higher than 165 liter/capital/day that recommended by the United Nations. Due to the “paradox
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resources in the country and RWH system is a “nice to have” facility within a building
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and it might not be needed (Che-Ain et al., 2009). Such a public perception has given the
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impression that it is unnecessary to harvest rainwater as their alternative water resource.
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Nevertheless, RWH is self sufficiency and able to reduce the dependence on domestic
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water supply by developing an appreciation for water resources among the residents in
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the urban area. •
Technical: According to Hashim et al. (2013), 58% of water supply can be provided by
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RWH and 41% must be supplied by the water utility. The optimization of the RWH
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system design is crucial to meet the supply and demand network at optimal reliability.
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There are many technical parameters to be taken into account for RWH, namely rainfall
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characteristics, catchment area (roof area), cistern storage size, rainwater demand (for
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non-potable purposes) and overall water use pattern. RWH system could be ineffective if
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other technical parameters such as first flush volume and losses on the roof through
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evaporation and splashing have been overlooked. Therefore, innovative technical solution
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such as rainwater recycling is needed to increase the yield of RWH.
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6.
Way Forward
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Dynamic and extreme weather due to the climate change are expected to leave a great
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impact on the environment, particularly the water resources. There is a general human
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response to adapt and mitigate the sufferings of water shortage associated with such climate
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extremes (Kavvas et al., 2007). Human may resort to modify dwelling environment by
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adapting new strategies to optimize the utility of available or alternative water resources. A
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comprehensive knowledge of climate fluctuations and corresponding adaptation and
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mitigation are crucial to progress towards sustainable development. Efforts to develop
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policy (Pandey et al., 2003). Therefore, RWH development has to be mainstreamed,
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institutionalized and up-scaled through the national water and climate change policy; and
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through enacting legislations and supporting with detailed guidelines, the development of
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RWH system will be authoritative and organized. It has also been noted that the cost of
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installation, maintenance and usage of RWH is much higher than that of domestic water
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supply. To promote RWH system as an alternative for the water supply, a comparison of the
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cost of RWH with domestic water supply has to be done. The government has to provide
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subsidies and rebates to encourage the public to install RWH system as done in other
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countries like Japan, Germany and Australia. The Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and
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Water (KeTTHA), the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government
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(KPKT), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) in association with mass
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media have to conduct education and awareness campaigns to increase the popularity of
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RWH to the public. In addition, the Ministry of Education (MOE) should also incorporate
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RWH into school education curriculum in both primary and secondary schools to ensure our
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younger generation is educated to conserving water resources for a better life (Mohd.-
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Shawahid et al., 2007). RWH perhaps would not be the most adequate solution in the short-
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term for alternative water resource, but the reduction of water consumption would be possible.
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Therefore, innovative technical solutions are needed to be adopted to retrofit RWH into the
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new and existing buildings to make RWH an integrated part of the water supply system.
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Other alternative water resources for example, air conditioning and cooling tower water can
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also be recycled and reused by integrating into RWH system to reduce water consumption
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and the dependence on domestic water supply.
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7.
Conclusions
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agriculture have imposed growing pressure on the existing water resources. The public
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should therefore adopt the concept of sustainability in conserving water resources because
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water resources have shrunken further with the rising threats of dynamic climate and extreme
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weather. In response to climate extremes, RWH has emerged as one of the measures to
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enhance the resilience of human society towards water shortage problem. A case study has
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been conducted in Malaysia whereby several government agencies have introduced and
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implemented several guidelines and initiatives with regard to RWH. However, RWH has yet
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to be mainstreamed into the national water and climate change policy as an adaptation
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strategy to climate change, especially in urban areas where water resources are fast depleting
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due to rapid increase in population and water consumption. We suggest that inter-ministerial
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and multi-stakeholders co-operations are needed to promote the development of RWH in the
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country to be authoritative and organized as an alternative water resource.
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Acknowledgement
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The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by Universiti
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Kebangsaan Malaysia through Geran Universiti Penyelidikan (GUP-2014-034) and Dana
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Impak Perdana (DIP-2015-008).
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Glossary
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DID: Department of Irrigation and Drainage
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ENSO: El Nino-Southern Oscillation
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FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization
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IOD: Indian Ocean Dipole
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IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
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KeTTHA: Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water
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KPKT: Ministry of Housing and Local Government/ Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing
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and Local Government
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KTAK: Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication
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MOE: Ministry of Education
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MOSTI: Ministry of Science, Technology and Technology and Innovation
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NAHRIM: National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia
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NRE: Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
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RWH: Rain Water Harvesting
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SIRIM: Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia
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SPAN: National Water Services Commission
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Table 1 The list of policies and guidelines concerning RWH in Malaysia. No Guidelines Department / Agency 1 Guidelines for Installing a Ministry of Housing and Local Rainwater Collection and Utilization Government System 2 Rainwater Harvesting: Guidebook Department of Irrigation and on Planning and Design Drainage Malaysia 3 Guideline on Eco-Efficiency in National Hydraulic Research Water Infrastructure for public Institute of Malaysia Buildings in Malaysia 4 Urban Stormwater Management Department of Irrigation and nd Manual for Malaysia, MSMA 2 Drainage Malaysia Edition 5 Panduan Pelaksanaan Inisiatif Federal Town and Country Pembangunan Kejiranan Hijau – Planning Department Sistem Pengumpulan dan Penggunaan Semula Air Hujan 6 Garis Panduan Perancangan Federal Town and Country Kejiranan Hijau Planning Department 7 Garis Panduan Sistem Pengumpulan Federal Town and Country dan Penggunaan Air Hujan Planning Department, Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government 8 Urban Stormwater Management – Department of Standards Part 6: Rainwater Harvesting, Malaysia MS2526-6:2014
2012
2012
2012 2013
2014
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Figure 1 Average annual precipitation in Peninsular Malaysia (Kavvas et al., 2007).
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Regions Southern Peninsular (10)
Johor (9)
1500
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Pahang (6)
500
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2000
Selangor (3)
1000
Klang (2)
Kelantan (5)
Terengganu (4)
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Perak (7)
West Coast (1)
Precipitation (mm)
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3000
2500
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Figure 2 Sub-regions of Peninsular Malaysia where the impact of climate change is assessed (Kavvas et al., 2007).
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RWH was proposed by the government to mitigate water crisis. Malaysian government has implemented guidelines with regard to RWH. RWH needs to be streamlined into national policy. Inter-ministry co-operation is needed to promote RWH.
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