Global consumption of water is doubling every 20 years due to human population growth. If this trend persists, by 2025 the demand for fresh water will rise by 56 percent and as many as two-third of the world’s population will be living with serious water shortage. According to the Fortune Magazines, “water will be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th.” One Canadian water company, Global Water Corp said, Water has moved from being an endless commodity that may be taken for granted to a rationed necessity that may be taken by force. In the future, water will be used as international trade and investment agreement to control its flow and supply; and what with water is considered as such; as fundamental human right.
Water consumption in fast-industrializing Malaysia grew at 8 percent a year in between 1981-2001, and according to analysts, the water consumption would grow by 4 percent between 2003 and 2010. On the other hand, the source of fresh water will become critical due to intensive urbanization, deforestation, water diversion, waste material from industrial discharge and industrial farming into the river.
In future, privatized water will be delivered only to those who can pay for it and the public will have to spend (suffer) more due to the increase in their cost of living, what with the current increase in fuel price. Actually, privatization has nothing to do with efficiency but instead; the transfer of the wealth to the appointed private sectors.
Malaysia proposed to spend up to 50 billion Ringgit Malaysia (USD 13 billion) over the next 10 years to replace old, leaky pipes and build new dams and treatment plants. All these “proposed plans” is to develop and lease “chosen profitable projects” to the water utility firms at low rates and these firms will therefore, benefits from the soaring water tariff rates.
Islam ascribes the most sacred qualities to water as life-giving, sustaining and purifying resources and the Holy Qur’an emphasizes its centrality Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before We clove them asunder?. We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe? (Al-Anbiya, 21:30). “Cleanliness is half of faith”, these well known Hadith reveal not only the central importance of purity and cleanliness, but also the essentials role water plays in Islamic religion.
We are born with a majority of water in our cells and tissues. The human body is composed of over 75% water and only 25% solid matter. As we age, we lose almost half of our water level. Dr Batmanghelidj, M.D from Falls Church Virginia, author of “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water”, specializes in research about the connection between water and disease prevention. He believes that many chronic illnesses, pain and obesity are sign of chronic dehydration. He suggests that in order to lose weight and reverse nearly 42 different diseases including asthma, arthritis, heart disease, high blood pressure, poor hearing or sight and digestive disorder, we must replace our water level (clean water). If “water” is life we must learn to treat it not as a commodity to be sold or privatized it, because it is an essential component of human existence and means for survival. Technologies today should be added with value in order to protect the environment that makes fresh water available to us forever.
Chemical attributes of water can affect aesthetic qualities such as how water looks, smells and tastes. Chemical attributes of water can also affects its toxicity and whether or not it is safe to use.
A research on “Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Drinking Water: It is an Issues?”, by Md Fauzi Abdullah (UKM) try to study whether the practice of chlorination by water treatment plants, as final disinfection process will generate various types of chlorinated compounds namely trihalomethanes and chloroacetic acids. The study will focus on the present status of VOSc in Malaysia drinking water supplies and whether there is an issue with regards to Malaysian drinking water standards.
Denmark has imposed a ban on the spraying of glyphosates as of 15 September 2003 following the release of data, which found that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide (RR) has been contaminating the drinking water resources of the country.
The chemical has, against all expectations sieving down through the soil and polluting the ground water at the rate of five times more than the allowed level for drinking water. According to test done by the Denmark and Greenland Geological Research Institution (DGGRI); as reported below “when we spray glyphosate on the fields, by rules it has shown that it is washed down into the upper ground water with a concentration of 5.4 micrograms per liter”. This is very surprising, because we had previously believed that bacteria in the soil broke down the glyphosate before it reached the ground water.
Others chemical reagent which pollute the water is cholorophenols. This compound are present in coal tar, plastic and pesticides chemical industries which produce them as chemical intermediates or generate them during chlorination of effluents containing phenolic compounds. In addition, the common water treatment with chlorine could generate chlorophenols since chlorine reacts quite fast with phenols.
The Greek philosopher Empedocles held that water is one of the four classical elements along with fire, earth and air. And is regarded as the ylem or basic stuff of the universe. Water is considered cold and moist. In the theory of the four bodily humors, water is associated with phlegm. Water is also one of the five elements in tradition Chinese philosophy along with earth, fire, wood and metal.
Civilizations have historically flourished around the river and as major waterways. Mesopotamia, the so-called cradle of civilization, is situated between two major rivers. Large metropolises like London, Paris, New York and Tokyo owe their success in part to their accessibility via water and the result expansion of trade. How about Kuala Lumpur and the luck of Klang River? A misconception about river is just for electricity through hydroelectric and as medium of discharge waste material and not for our survival.