Find Water and Sanitation expertise in Malaysia

Malaysia has a dependable, plentiful and safe water supply – alongside its high average annual rainfall of 3,000 mm. The entire population of Malaysia uses an improved drinking water source and 96% of people have adequate sanitation facilities (2010). In the late 1980s and 1990s, several public-private partnership projects were implemented in the water supply and sanitation sector, including three build-operate-transfer-style water supply projects between 1987–89, and one build-operate-transfer-style sewerage project in 1992.

Water utilities in Malaysia are managed and overseen by individual state water authorities. The Central Federal Public Works Department, in Kuala Lumpur, oversees their operations. The National Water Services Commission is the national regulatory body for water supply in the country. The biggest issue regarding water supply is to change the national habit of having a high water usage per person, and to maintain an infrastructure which can meet a booming country’s present and future demands. The Water Resources Master Plan sees the development of water resources for the country up to 2050 as involving around 60 major water projects, including new dams, raising existing ones, new treatment plants, inter-state water transfer, and identifying catchment areas for development.