According to World Health Organisation (WHO) there are 1.1 billion people, or 18 percent of the world's population, who lack access to safe drinking water.

WHO also reported that more than 2.2 million people, mostly in developing countries, die each year from diseases associated with poor water and sanitary conditions and at any one time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-borne diseases.

Water scarcity has hit the world and many environmental incidents have taken over the future of water security. We need to revisit our planning and make necessary amendments to suit to changes.

One of Fomca’s call is that consumers must avail themselves to alternative sources of water and this includes rainwater. Rainwater is the nation’s most untapped resource and it is actually much cleaner compared to water from some rivers in Malaysia.

According to statistics, our cumulative rainfall volume is about 990 billion cubic meters. The estimated Malaysian water supply production in 2006 was about 4.55 billion cubic meters. Therefore, the estimated annual water consumption is about 0.5 per cent of our total annual rainfall.

There are many activities in our houses, offices and industries that can use rainwater. These include flushing and cleaning toilets, washing cars and other vehicles, watering plants as well as rainwater being source water for lakes and reservoirs in many countries.

In many developed areas, a high level of traffic flow and development prevents us from using harvested rainwater for potable purposes. This is mainly due to the chemicals that dilute into the water during rainfall.

However, in Fomca’s visits to many rural areas and poor countries, rainwater is the main source of water for many. This practice is still done in Malaysia and iscurrently monitored under the health ministry.

The only caution that we always have adhere to is that the collected rainwater must be covered to ensure that there is no mosquito breeding. Rainwater harvesting does not need a high technical solution. It just needs a simple and safe collection and storage.

Fomca is currently conducting five different rainwater harvesting projects at various places in the Klang Valley. These pilot projects are designed to fit the requirements of end users and they are currently very successful.

More details will be published upon full implementation. These projects are funded by the energy, water and communication ministry.

The writer is programme manager, Environment Desk, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca).