More than 30 per cent of clean water goes wasted daily because of old and leaking pipes in the Klang Valley, but experts said there was nothing they could do to stop the leakage.
Water experts said the old pipes made of cement asbestos were unhealthy as they cracked easily, allowing contaminated water to seep into them.
The president of the Water Association of Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (SWAn), Tan Sri Rozali Ismail, said some of the pipes were 30 years old.
“The pipes need to be changed. The old ones break down frequently.”
Rozali said this could be one of the reasons why water was sometimes reported to be dirty and contaminated.
Another reason could be due to old housing estates having contaminated water tanks.
Rozali said about 4.1 million litres of clean water were being produced daily, out of which 85 per cent was intended for domestic use and the rest for industry.
“However, 32 per cent of the water goes down the drain daily due to leaking pipes,” he said after the launching of the 2nd Asia Pacific Regional Water Conference and Exhibition 2011 yesterday.
He said 850km out of the 6,500km of old water pipes in the Klang Valley had been replaced and he hoped the authorities would replace the remaining ones.
He said the world was moving into replacing cement asbestos pipes with ductile iron pipes, high-density polyethylene and stainless steel pipes.
“These pipes do not rust. They do not break easily… the water pressure is also good.”
A water expert from Australia, Dr David Garman, said cement asbestos pipes were not the best material for supplying drinking water.
In Australia, the government was using ductile iron or copper piping, he added.
