Recently, Johor Menteri Besar Osman Sapian said the state has plans to be self-sufficient in treated water instead of relying on Singapore (Johor plans to stop relying on S'pore for treated water, March 2).

Once it no longer needs to rely on Singapore to supply it with treated water, Malaysia's next step may be to stop supplying water to Singapore altogether.

Hence, Singapore should also expedite our plan to be totally self-sufficient so that we do not have to be threatened by the irrational politics of our neighbour.

Also, it is important to step up education on water conservation as global warming and climate change may bring long dry spells to Singapore.

Many younger people in Singapore have never experienced a water shortage before.

One way to emphasise the importance of saving water could be to stop water supplies to households for a few days so that people can feel the pain and inconvenience of water shortages.

This will educate people to treasure water more.

The Government can also increase the water tariffs for different consumption tiers and provide more incentives for low water consumption to curb the wastage of precious water.

Ng Sung Nang