By Loga Sunthri Veeraiah – SPAN, National Water Services Commission (Malaysia)
Although two-thirds of our planet is water, we face an acute water shortage which is getting worse day by day. The water crisis now coupled with the climate crisis is the most pervasive, most severe and most invisible dimension of the ecological devastation on Earth. This indicates the need for humanising engineering solutions to be more inclusive and sustainable towards peace and well-being of the world.
I am currently a Senior Executive at the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Unit of the Strategic Planning Department of Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara (National Water Services Commission, SPAN) Malaysia. SPAN is a technical and economic regulatory body under the Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (PETRA) which takes care of the provision of the water supply and sewerage services in Peninsular Malaysia and Federal Territories of Putrajaya and Labuan.
Upon completing my Bachelor of Engineering (Civil & Environmental) at the University of Technology (UTM) Malaysia, I tried venturing into several career paths. Water found me as I held the portfolio of Manager of Water and Sustainability in an NGO which was largely involved in the reformation of the water services industry in 2005. This included the amendments to the Federal Constitution, the enactment of the Water Services Industry Act 2006 and the National Water Services Commission Act 2006. This phase of my career was a huge learning curve which emphasised the importance of the sector to me.
My involvement in projects conducted at this time paved the way for me to obtain the prestigious Chevening Scholarship to complete my postgraduate degree on MSc in Sustainable Water Management at Newcastle University in the UK. Now I have more than 18 years of experience, with the last 9 years with SPAN as a regulator of the water services industry.
In the early years of joining the water regulators, I was in constant hope for a more gender-sensitive and family-friendly policy as I had a toddler at home, and at times travel was restricted. There were also prevailing social norms that viewed technical jobs, such as engineering, as inappropriate for women, thus a lot of my work focused on planning and development of technical guidelines. However, with ESG gaining traction, I was able to pioneer ESG activities for SPAN and the water and sewerage services industry in ensuring that we leverage and cooperate towards a green transition. Implementing projects on the transition towards resilience and sustainability, finding suitable GHG accounting and decarbonisation strategies across the sector, concurrently translating these towards amplifying innovative and transformative water services industry. My other endeavours include championing risk assessment-related activities, preparation and implementation of SPAN’s Water Safety Plan (WSP) which imposes a KPI to water utilities to create and operationalise workable WSPs.
In some parts of the world, women and girls are spending their days collecting water – sacrificing education, work and even their safety due to the lack of basic water and sanitation facilities. Water is central to every living being, and this is my primary motivation, which makes me feel that my job is very important for my community as well as my country. The role of regulation in the water sector is undeniably important. Good water governance through regulation is key to shaping informed decisions and implementing the necessary measures to pave the way for coordination between sectors to overcome a siloed approach towards water and sanitation management.
The magical touch of ESG, addressing economic growth, equality and social needs as well as addressing sustainability at multiple levels, understanding the water-food-energy nexuses including climate adaptation and mitigation makes the sector super important and makes me very proud to serve mankind.
When we think about women creating an environment of peace, we logically relate it to well-being and security, and it seems essential to me that we have equality in the creation and the enjoyment of basic services such as water and sanitation. In an AI-empowered rapidly changing world, there is no fear and need for gender bias and therefore women must be empowered to undertake important roles within the water sector.
