Brunei Water Usage Highest In Region
By Laila Rahman

Bandar Seri Begawan - Do not waste water was the plain and simple message conveyed to the public as the Sultanate launched World Water Day 2005 yesterday.

More than a billion people at present have no access to clean water and that figure will more than double to 2.6 billion by the year 2025.

Pehin Dato Dr. Awang Haji Ahmad bin Haji Jumat, Minister of Development, said this as he officiated the launch at the Ministry of Development building.

The per capita usage of water in the country is the highest in this region. It is 450 litres per person a day compared to 200 litres per person a day in Malaysia and 168 litres per person a day in Singapore.

The minister said this was a perturbing statistic as the usage of water in Brunei is more than twice per person compared with our neighbouring countries.

Brunei has allocated $394 million in the 8th National Development Plan to upgrade water resources and supply.

In the 8th NDP Brunei has been able to provide an output of 580 million litres of fresh water each day compared to 400 million litres a day at the end of the 7th NDP.

Among the projects that are currently being implemented include building of dams, water treatment plants, storage facilities and replacement of water supply pipes.

Furthermore, researches will be undertaken to identify potential water resources to be developed over a longer period and also to take appropriate measures to ensure that the resources will be unpolluted.

The water usage in the country has jumped steeply from 177 million litres a day in 1991 to 337 million litres a day in 2001, which is an increase of 91 per cent in 10 years' time.

The usage is bound to increase in the future and it is estimated that by 2015 Brunei will need about 485 million litres a day, the minister added.

On November 27, 2002, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights announced that access to water is one of the humanitarian rights and stated that water is a social, cultural and life issue and not just an economic issue.

The "Water for Life" theme reminds us how precious water resources are and the importance to take continuous proactive measures to preserve and upgrade the quantity and quality of our water resources for usage in the future.

Brunei is considered to be fortunate as we still have sufficient resources of water that meet our present and future needs, said the minister and reminded the community not to waste water. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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