States should invest in desalination to solve water woes

   by Professor Dato Dr. Ahmad Ibrahim,

THE past few months have been trying for Penang. The state has been struggling to seek new water sources to meet its growing demand.

It is inevitable that the state's demand for water will continue to rise.

This shows the very critical role of water in the economy. Kedah was first approached and later Perak, but both efforts proved futile. The reason is simple. Kedah and Perak have done their homework on water demand.

As both states pursue their own economic agenda, they will need water for their own use. Any interstate water transfer is, at best, a stop-gap measure to increase water supply in Penang. All states must look for longer-term sources.

The irony of the country's water issue is that we can sometimes have a deluge of supply, especially during the monsoon. But most often, we fail to capture it as it eventually drains off to the sea.

Some will replenish the groundwater supply. These sudden deluges often cause problems, such as floods and landslides.

The situation has gotten worse as more of our natural forests have been cleared for development. Of course, we need to open land for development. But of greater concern is when the clearing is done in sensitive water catchment areas.

Such forested areas have been acting as sponges for water collection. With the gradual disappearance of such areas, water would simply gush down rivers at high speed, causing floods that devastate homes and properties, and take away lives.

We know that more than 90 per cent of the Earth is covered in water. But the bulk is saline seawater, which is not what we really want.

We need fresh water for agriculture, manufacturing and of course, for the household.

Fortunately, there are ways to obtain fresh water from seawater. The trick is to remove the salt. The process of removing salt, or desalination, involves reducing the seawater's salinity to make it suitable for use.

In the past, desalination was done by evaporating seawater. The steam from the evaporation process is cooled and condensed into fresh water, leaving salt as residue.

There are new ways to do desalination. We owe it to the development of membrane technology. As a result of improvements in the design of the membrane process, as well as the development of new membrane materials, the cost of desalination has come down significantly.

One problem with membranes is "fouling", which leads to the clogging of the membrane's holes. This reduces its capacity to separate water from salt.

However, as a result of research, there are now new membrane materials that can operate for a long period without fouling.

Such a technological breakthrough has made membrane desalination an attractive proposition. Who knows, with more research, there will be more improvements in the coming years. One should never discount the power of research and development.

Over the years, more countries have turned to desalination for the supply of fresh water. Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states have long depended on desalinated water.

Singapore has also invested in desalination plants to resolve its water woes. The republic must have realised that it would be impractical to depend on supply from Johor forever.

Penang should do likewise if it wants to avoid a chronic water shortage.

In fact, using the same argument, even the other states should seriously consider investing in desalination facilities. Melaka, which has experienced a serious water shortage before, can benefit from this.

There were a few occasions when the state was brought to its knees due to water shortages. It is time for us to give serious consideration to desalination technology.