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Malaysia may tap underground water to boost nation’s supply: Deputy prime minister

PORT DICKSON — Malaysia’s government will intensify efforts to better manage the country’s water industry, including balancing supply and demand, plugging wastage and tapping into the vast and largely untouched underground resources.

Malaysian DPM Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Photo: Malay Mail Online

Malaysian DPM Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Photo: Malay Mail Online

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PORT DICKSON — Malaysia’s government will intensify efforts to better manage the country’s water industry, including balancing supply and demand, plugging wastage and tapping into the vast and largely untouched underground resources.

Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said it is unacceptable for a country like Malaysia, which is blessed with a total of 907 billion cubic metres of rainfall a year to have some states facing water shortage during certain periods in the year.

“This shows that there is something wrong somewhere in the supply and demand equation and in the middle of this all, there is also something lacking in the water management aspect,” Dr Zahid said in his speech at the launch of the national-level Word Water Day 2017 event on Saturday (March 25).

Dr Zahid added that the government will also look at ways on how to extract and boost usage of the vast underground water resources which is largely untapped.

“There is a total of 3 trillion cubic metres of underground water in the country, of which only 1.5 per cent is utilised. If extracted, it can further help meet the demands of domestic, commercial and industrial users,” he said. NEW STRAITS TIMES

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