AS THE RAIN FALLS...

...I am awaken by the sudden gush of wind and heavy rain followed by the sounds of thunder and lighting and all these trigger wonderful thoughts in my mind that bring me back through Time ! As I look at the heavy rain water that seem endless in volume, pouring over the roof top overlooking my bedroom windows, I begin to wonder, just how it is that the rain and storms of these days seem to take off at almost the same time daily since these past weeks. In the early part of the year, the weather forecaster confidently states that we will all be facing dry spells for months ahead and that we should all conserve water now or face water rationing.

Such water rationing takes place a couple of months in 1998 just before the Commonwealth Games, which marks a historical first to our country then. During the months prior to the Commonwealth Games, almost the whole of Kuala Lumpur, and worst of all, the surrounding towns nearest to the Games stadiums, all face water shortage to the extent that only drinking water is made available through water trucks that come once a day to designated areas of each housing area. Our house has not a drop of water during all those draught months. We survive on the occasional rain water that we diligently collect from the four corners of our house roofs with the help of 400 litres rubber tanks. In fact, each time if it happens to rain, we all get excited like small children, soaking ourselves in the rain and saving up as much of its water as we possibly can. Next, whenever the water trucks happens to come by or stop at the nearest houses to ours, we will rush up to it with buckets ready to fill up. The buckets full of water are really back breaking to carry , but carry it we must in order to store as much water as we possibly can before the next water supply arrives, which although supposedly to be daily but at times by the time these water trucks reach our area, its water content is almost empty.

Going through those months without water, make us feel very annoyed indeed these days when you see burst pipes that do not seem to get repaired for hours on end or even for days sometimes. Such burst pipes happen quite regularly in the vicinity of our area as a result of some public utilities works that take place every so often these days. Water is already becoming a very precious commodity in our life these days. Worst still, the kind of water that we do get today is no quality water anymore as compared to what it used to be then. If during our school days then we can readily drink from the tap whenever we feel thirsty, nowadays, we have to think twice before doing so, because the water is muddy looking and can even be smelly at some places. In our house alone we have installed three water filters to ensure that the final water that reaches our house will look like water ! A close look at the water filters cannot help but reveal the kind of vile contents that do get trapped in them - mud and gravel's, and occasionally also oil deposits of some sorts - and yet the municipal authorities dare to say that our water meet the current standard and requirement of the World Health Organization ! I feel very disturbed by this statement when I know that if we have not installed these special filters, we will not even wish to shower with the water, let alone use it for drinking purposes. Hence in our house we have to resort to reversed osmosis water suppliers for our drinking and cooking needs - something that never happens before during my childhood days !

Of course, a lot of people are to be blamed for the contaminated water of ours today. We take too many things for granted. We allow the cutting of trees on hill tops without ensuring that soil erosion is minimized. We allow everyone to throw all their rubbish into the streams and rivers and we never check or regulate the affluence that emit from industrial factories that are thrown into these water sources, and we never preserve the catchment areas from illegal logging which render them rain starve later on and hence our reservoirs are continuously short of the water that it should have to serve the needs of the towns and cities. That time when I am in Kuala Trengganu in 1964 when I work for The Federal Land Development Authority ( FELDA) I am shocked at the attitude of the then Menteri Besar who totally ignores the advise of the Forest Department not to permit or issue logging permits to extract timber from the main catchment areas of the State- a happening which is not uncommon to all other States too where our politicians ignore the experts advice on water conservation- all adds up to our current woos on water shortages during the slightest dry spells. In a country where the rainwater readings are amongst the highest in this part of the world and logically then should not even face water shortage, we have only ourselves to blame today. In short, we have abused ourselves in the proper maintenance of our water. Thus as I look at the torrents of water from the rain that fall on my roof tops, I wish there is a way to stop all this precious water from flowing all the way to the drains and lose it forever.

Lately, there is now a move and a proposal by the authorities to make aware to the general public about a special contraption that can store and later use this same stored rain water for general usage in homes . This involves a special contraption that traps the drain-piped water from the house roofs to be stored and channeled to leading pipes in the house for later usage for the washing of cars and watering of gardens and even for the washing machines. Hence if the water for these usage's can come from the rain catchment contraptions installed in homes, the conservation of water will be greatly assured and water shortage will no longer be the bane of modern society of our cities. As I mention earlier, our country is supposed to be water rich as a result of regular rainfalls but where is the water today ? They all flow back to the rivers and streams and to the sea too fast and what water there should have been, this never falls on the catchment areas because these areas are stripped of the forest of trees that should have been there in the first place !

During those vacations that we have overseas, such as to Switzerland, Austria, and New Zealand, we marvel at the crystal clear water in their rivers and streams. These countries take great pride in their water quality. Each time we glance at these water sources, we feel like jumping in to taste the water. It is so clear and clean looking, a contrast to the ones that we get in all our streams and rivers, and all this is due to our "couldn’t careless attitude " to ensure that no rubbish, chemical effluents and eroded soils, are allowed to be disposed off in these water sources.

When our house faces the draught in 1998, I cannot but recall the numerous occasions when at my College then, we have to undergo water rationing too. On these occasions, the College built special water storage tanks to pre-store water. The water therein is to be used only for the purpose of ablutions and very light bath which we call "dry cleaning" ! This involves the washing of face and body with just a pail of water. Hence it becomes a school rule then not to waste water and any water waster is severely punished by Detention Class ! It is the kind of discipline which we emulate in our later life i.e. not to waste water. However inevitably there are times when we ourselves forget to turn off the taps as it happens on several occasions which results in higher water bills for the ensuing months ! Kids especially cannot be left on their own in the bathrooms. The fun that can come about playing with the water especially the sprinkler in the garden can cause a lot of water wastage too.

Of late the government is taking a great deal of concern on Global Warning on the changing climate which affects water , environmental and air pollution and to educate the public on them by publishing the following guide lines in the New Straits Times on Friday May 4, 2007 :-

1. Walk. Don’t drive to the neighborhood shop. If you must drive, then perform several chores at once.

2. Shun non-biodegradable plastic bags. This will help reduce emissions from plastic bags that decay at landfills.

3. Shop with your own cloth tote bags instead of using plastic bags.

4. Don’t waste water. Turn off the taps when applying soap. Water is going to be a scarce commodity. Don’t use a hose to water your plants; use watering cans.

5. Wash your car with a cloth and a bucket of water instead of hosting it down. You can save litres of water that can be better used for drinking and cooking.

6. Collect rain water in your porch and use it to wash the floor and water the plants. This helps to reduce water wastage and runoff.

7. Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps which are said to consume only 25 per cent of the electricity used and last longer.

8. Turn off the air-conditioning when your house or room is sufficiently cooled.

9. Use public transport or car pool instead of driving alone in your car to work or in running errands. It not only cuts your petrol bill but also cut carbon dioxide emission, the biggest culprit in global warming.

10. Draw the curtains or keep the windows shut at home to keep out the heat. Growing green plants indoors also helps absorb the heat besides taking in carbon dioxide and producing oxygen.

11. Shower in the afternoon to minimize use of water heater.

12. Switch off all electrical appliances when they are not in use especially fans, radios and television.

13. Take your own containers to buy cooked food - this helps reduce use of recyclable plastic containers.

14. Ironing clothes in bulk to cut down on electricity usage.

15. Collect a full load before doing your laundry. Line dry your clothes instead of using the dryer.

16. Cycle or walk around your neighborhood while on errands. It is good exercise besides saving you the hassle of finding parking lots and burning extra fossil fuel.

17. Avoid burning candles or joss sticks unnecessarily as they emit fumes and gases that can pollute.

18. Avoid buying exotic flowers or plants that need lots of fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers are unkind to the environment ; they pollute rivers and the soil.

19. Cut down on use of insect repellents in aerosol cans. Use mosquito netting and devices that are more environmental-friendly to keep the pests out of your homes.

20. You can cool down a sun baked porch and brick walls by spraying water on them. This will reduce the need for air-conditioning in living room.

These are undoubtedly very positive advice from our government to make our public more aware of their responsibility to preserving what Nature has given us to enjoy. We recall a special place we visited in Switzerland called Zit where all the vehicles there run on dry batteries. Hence they cut down on noise and air pollution from petrol burning. May be that’s what we should have in our cities but then I don’t think the Big boys in the petrol industry will welcome it and nor will all oil producing countries, whose major income is derived from oil exploration and its exports and sales. That partly accounts for the fact that the inventions of vehicles that use other combustion materials other than petrol make very slow progress or poor publicity because the Big boys will lose out ! In our country alone, someone has formulated the use of the oil-palm as substitute for petrol . It was hot news for some time, but now we hear no more of it. Why ? There must have been a buy out by the Big boys to shut up ! Others have come out with the use of plain water as fuel, whilst others the usage of fertilizers and animals wastes. The latest that the Japanese have come out with is the combination of water and diesel as fuel for cars specially made for this purpose. We are yet to see just how this will go. However we do take consolation to the fact that we are making progress to reduce air pollution and ensuring cleaner air to breathe in.

CONTINUE ...................