KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — There are 623,466 septic tanks in Malaysia that haven’t been decontaminated for three years, the National Audit Department (NAD) revealed today.

The figure represented 94.2 per cent of all units that were supposed to be decontaminated between 2021 and 2023, the department said in the Auditor-General’s Report 2/2024 tabled in the Dewan Rakyat today.

"Sewer coverage is also incomplete ranging from 62.1 to 96.6 per cent. Kedah, Perlis, Sabah and Kelantan have below satisfactory levels of sewage treatment plant maintenance.

"Decontamination of septic tanks that were scheduled for 2021 until 2023 have not been done, this represents 623,446 tanks (94.2 per cent).

"Water pressure levels were low in Selangor, Penang, Perlis and Kelantan all of whom did not meet the required levels fluctuating between 0.4 per cent to 14 per cent for the year 2022.

"Additionally, 362 tank systems and 129 pump houses, making up 11 percent of the total, are not operational,” the report said.

The NAD said samples were taken from Kedah, Perlis, Selangor, Sabah, and Kelantan.

In Sabah, one water source development project was reported to be 341 days behind schedule, and four water supply development projects were delayed by 324 to 1,076 days.

These included one in Kedah, one in Johor, and two in Sabah.

Regarding water quality development projects, the NAD said Pahang, Penang, and Perak each had two projects delayed, one in Kedah and four in Sabah, ranging from 86 to 883 days.

Additionally, 129 projects under the National Water Services Commission were delayed nationwide, except for Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan, with delays averaging 361 days.

The report also highlighted that the MyWater Portal does not display the existing yield or water sources currently in use at our dams.

Furthermore, the supply of treated water showed a deficit in Kedah and Kelantan, ranging from -0.9 per cent to -16.8 per cent for the years 2021 and 2022.

It noted that only Selangor achieved the targeted non-revenue rate, while other states missed the mark by 51.5 to 61.5 per cent.

The NAD said Malaysia failed to meet its targeted water margin reserves of 13.5 per cent in 2022, with Kelantan having a very low margin of 3.9 per cent, and Kedah having zero margins.

It said water use in peninsular Malaysia and Labuan exceeded the daily consumption rate per capita (LCD) of 237. The rate was set at 205LCD in 2020 and 190LCD in 2023.