World Water Day, 22 Mar

In Singapore where water is scarce, we've learnt to save water. From young, there's always Save Water campaigns taught in schools. Education is best learnt when young.

We've been in Malaysia for two plus coming three years. If you see the way people here use water to wash their cars and car porches or to water their plants, you would think that there's plenty of water in Malaysia. Or more correctly, that water is cheap.

On an average, households in Malaysia pay 70 sen for 1,000 litres of water. That is CHEAP. and perhaps that's why people treat water as if it will be in abundance forever. What if supply runs dry and we have to use reverse osmosis? RO water costs around 50 sen a litre and if a household used 1,000 litres a month, the bill could reach a hefty RM500. Would people spend that kind of moolah?

In reality, sources of water are running dry. Read this article on Why Malaysia's Taps Are Running Dry. Would you change the way we use water? Probably not. Humans seldom learn, even from mistakes. Or maybe people just like their homes to be clean....and the feeling and sounds of running water seem to imply that their stuff are being cleaned.