Comparative Analysis: Water Supply in Malaysian Public Buildings

Malaysia's 2012 amendment to the Uniform Building By-Laws introduced mandatory water efficiency requirements for new construction, yet the extensive inventory of public buildings constructed before this regulatory milestone remains largely uncharacterized in terms of water consumption patterns and efficiency potential. This study develops a comprehensive assessment framework specifically designed for evaluating water supply and demand in four critical public building types, namely government offices, hospitals, police stations, and mosques, constructed before the UBBL 2012 amendment. Through systematic analysis of international water benchmarking literature and synthesis of building-specific consumption patterns, an integrated assessment methodology is proposed combining water auditing protocols, high-resolution metering strategies, cluster-based benchmarking approaches, and building-type-specific performance indicators. Literature synthesis reveals substantial variability in public building water consumption internationally, with hospitals demonstrating consumption ranging from 103 to 458 cubic meters per bed per year, government offices showing documented savings potential of 31 to 82 percent through systematic monitoring programs, and mosques achieving approximately 45.5 percent fresh water savings through greywater reuse from ablution facilities. However, police stations represent a critical research gap with zero documented consumption studies in the available literature. The proposed framework establishes building-type-specific indicators, standardized data collection protocols, and benchmarking clusters to enable systematic assessment and prioritization of retrofitting interventions for Malaysia's pre-2012 public building stock.