The Role of Women in Water Conservation

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN WATER CONSERVATION IN PENANG

By Dr Chan Ngai Weng
President
Water Watch Penang (WWP)
email: nwchan@usm.my

Water, or the lack of it has become an important issue in recent years. The El Nino in 1997/98 laid bare the fragility of our water resources. People in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya and many parts of Selangor, Balik Pulau in Penang, Melaka and Negri Sembilan have been exposed to hardships they never would have imagined (Photograph 1). Some had gone for weeks and months with little water. Such was the severity of the water crisis that at its peak, many would have paid a fortune just to get enough of that precious liquid. Gone are the days when water was abundant and no one had to conserve this vital resource. Increasingly, as water becomes scarce due to destruction of forests and water catchments, pollution from agriculture and industry, increasing demand, high non-revenue water or NRW (i.e. treated water piped through treatment plants that are lost through leakage, theft, public usage such as fire fighting and public toilets and other unaccounted ways), and severe weather conditions (such as El Nino), water would become an increasingly important factor in the lives of many.
The water level of the Air Itam dam in Penang dropped to a critically low level during the height of the El Nino by April 1998.
Penang is a small State with poor water resources. Hence, water would most likely determine whether Penang will gallop or saunter along in its future development. The signs are not good. Currently, over 80 % of Penang’s water demand is drawn from the Muda River which has its origins in Kedah State. Furthermore, only 1 % of the water catchments where our waters come from are in Penang. The rest of the 99 % are outside Penang State, viz. in Kedah. Despite such a scenario, our water catchments are increasingly being destroyed, both by legal activities (mostly housing schemes) as well as by illegal developments (mostly illegal farming and squatting). To exacerbate the situation, water polluting activities are rampant. Hence, to say that Penang’s water security is precarious is an under-statement! Yet, despite the existence of laws and enforcement, it may not be enough to guarantee adequate water for all in the future. The State and its agencies may have their plans to increase water supply. The new Teluk Bahang Dam is about to be operational by the year 2000, and there are other water treatment plants in the pipeline. But these schemes are not enough to guarantee adequate water supply beyond 2010. Hence, there is an urgent need for the public to play a more active role in helping to conserve water resources, viz. to reduce water demand. This is where the role of women becomes vitally important.
Currently, domestic water users in Penang consumes about 58.5 % of the total water demand of 697 million litres per day (MLD). This is contributed by the Sg Muda (450 MLD), Sg Kulim (112.5 MLD), Air Itam Dam (45.4 MLD) and other minor catchment areas (89.1 MLD). Domestic consumers, therefore use about 408 MLD in Penang. Because of this huge volume, any reduction in consumption can save the State a lot of water. This is where women can play a vital role as they are the “managers” (albeit unpaid ones) at home. Women are usually the ones who manage the family’s water budget. There are numerous reasons why women are vitally important in water conservation:
(i) In many rural areas, women are the ones who have to fetch water from wells or rivers. Here, they act as the primary means of making water available in the family.
(ii) Women have to wash the clothes of the whole family. Here, they can conserve water by using environmentally-friendly detergents (which uses less water and are less harmful to ground water), start a wash only when there is a full load, and ensure that badly soiled clothes get a rinse before being washed. All these help to save water.
(iii) Of course, women do most, if not all the cooking. This is one area where the family can save substantial amount of water. The chef can choose to cook less oily dishes (such as steaming or uncooked salad) which in the long run are healthier than oily dishes. The latter uses less water both for the cooking as well as for the washing up of pots and pans and crockery.
(iv) Women also bathe the children and should instill the need to save water amongst the young. They should never let children play with water during the baths as this would send the wrong message to kids, viz. that water can be wasted.
(v) Mothers can mould their children into responsible water saving adults by starting them young. They can take their children for outings to rivers instead of to supermarkets or shopping complexes. They can lead the children in "River Walk" along the banks of rivers such as the Sg Air Terjun inside the Botanical Gardens. Mothers can request help from WWP experts who will brief the children on the importance of water conservation and hence the need to keep rivers clean. The children can then be treated to some basic water monitoring exercises whereby they would go into the shallow river to conduct themselves. The kids as well as their mothers would enjoy this exercise tremendously as it gives them the chance to get into the river and do something. Mothers play a vitally important role in moulding their children into responsible water saving adults by starting them young. Here, both mother and children are enjoying a river education programme run by WWP on 24th Jnuary 1999 in the Sg Air Pantai Kerachut in the Pantai Acheh Forest Reserve.
(vi) Many women are school teachers and this is an area where water education becomes important. Women teachers can teach students to conserve water the way they teach their own children. In many developed countries, schools have “River Watch” programmes whereby school children monitor the “health” of an adopted river (usually one that is adjacent to their school). This way, they can report any major changes in water quality of rivers due to dumping of toxic materials, rubbish, oil spill or otherwise. In Penang, one of WWP’s activities is the continuous education programme to instill awareness and love for our rivers. The objective is to get one school to adopt a river or part/section of a river and monitor the "Health" of the river via simple indicators such as the physical characteristics (velocity and discharge, cross-section area of river channel, temperature, colour, turbidity, presence of rubbish, smell/odour, flowing or stagnant water), the biological characteristics (presence of aquatic weeds, fish, and other aquatic wildlife) and the chemical characteristics (pH, Dissolved Oxygen and Conductivity). Because participants actually get into the river to perform various tasks, they really enjoyed themselves. Hence there is tremendous potential for women teachers to take advantage of this interesting water education activity. Children are bored sitting in the classroom all the time. They need to get out into the field to learn about nature/rivers the way they are. WWP conducts these activities from time to time, depending on requests. Teachers can contact WWP if they are interested. It is WWP’s objective to get as many schools involved as possible.
15 May 1999: School children enjoying themselves in the Sg Air Terjun inside the Botanical Gardens in one of WWP’s river monitoring activities.
(vi) Women control the water budget in the house as they are engaged in watering of plants/vegetables (and even wash cars, though admittedly the men are the ones usually doing this and they tend to waste a lot of water by using the hose), wash floors and toilets, and other chores needing water. Hence, women can either save or waste water. But by virtue of their frugality and carefulness, women tend to save water rather than waste it.
There may be many other areas in which women can play an important role in water saving. Since the Government is now preaching the use of Water Demand Management (WDM) to complement Water Supply Management (WSM) which has been largely employed by Government so far, WDM in the household will determine whether WDM succeeds or fails. This is because more than half the water demand is from domestic households. Hence, the family unit holds the key to WDM. Each litre of water saved may seem insignificant but it counts towards sustainable management of this precious resource. Picture the following scenarios:
Scenario 1: If every person in Penang can reduce his/her consumption of water by a mere 10 % of his/her daily needs, the State could save about 41 million litres per day (MLD). This amounts to about 1230 million litres per month (MLM) or 14,965 million litres per year (MLY).
Scenario 2: If every person in Penang can reduce his/her consumption of water by a mere 20 % of his/her daily needs, the State could save about 82 MLD. This amounts to about 2460 MLM or 29,930 MLY.
Scenario 3: If every person in Penang can reduce his/her consumption of water by a mere 50 % of his/her daily needs, the State could save about 204 MLD. This amounts to about 6120 MLM or 74,460 MLY.
These three scenarios are taken for slight water stress (Scenario 1), moderate water stress (Scenario 2) and severe water stress (Scenario 3). It is not impossible for a person to reduce his/her water consumption by 10 to 20 %, although arguably reducing it by 50 % would be too drastic and may lead to health and other ill effects. One cannot reduce the amount of drinking water a person needs (about 7 glasses per day) but one can certainly reduce the number of times one takes a shower, waters the plants, washes the car, mobs the floor or changes the water in the aquarium. WWP has recommended 20 water saving tips and all these are mostly/usually carried by women, hence underlining their importance to water conservation.