A/HRC/42/47/Add.2 B. Affordability 63. Access to water and the use of sanitation facilities must be affordable for all personal and domestic uses (see A/HRC/30/39). As regards the affordability of water and sanitation services, Malaysia has financially accessible tariffs for both water and sewerage provisions. In some states, the Government provides a universal subsidy to its population by not charging water and sewerage tariffs until a certain level of consumption, usually 20 cubic meters each month. In other states, this subsidy is applied to a targeted population, with less economic resources. As regards desludging of septic tanks, in some states, such as Sarawak, the service is subsidized and is charged together with property taxes. The Special Rapporteur notes that these are commendable achievements. 1. Water and sanitation tariff-setting 64. During his visit, the Special Rapporteur learned that the National Water Services Commission is undertaking studies to restructure the tariff scheme, which might include a joint billing for water and sewerage services and a reassessment of the levels of tariffs. From the human rights perspective, it is key to ensure the financial sustainability of services. Unsustainable services, even with a safe source of subsidies, are vulnerable and in the long term put the quality of services at risk. 65. For the restructuring of water and sanitation tariffs, the Special Rapporteur would like to provide a few elements to ensure that the exercise is carried out in accordance with the principles of human rights. It is important to reconcile the financial sustainability of the water and sanitation services with affordable access to those services by those in vulnerable situations. The Government must be mindful of the needs of those who lack the capacity to pay or who have limited means to do so. The reform of the water tariffs needs to take into account the implementation of social tariffs. Furthermore, its scope should also include the water tariffs of informal service providers, which are currently not regulated by the Government. 66. Additionally, in order to guarantee that those who are financially more vulnerable are not denied access to water and sanitation services, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government implement social tariffs and different types of cross-subsidization, including between non-residential consumers and residential users (see A/HRC/30/39). The current procedure of providing 20 cubic metres of water for free, which is implemented in some states, is a way to address affordability, but may not be fair when universally applied. It does not take account of the number of persons living in each household or their total income and therefore, ironically, it is the rich households with fewer persons living there and consuming less water that will ultimately benefit from this policy, sadly at the expense of large, poor families. The target group should be the poorest 40 per cent (B40) group by median monthly household income (that is to say a median of 3,000 ringgit) and other marginalized groups. To identify those groups in need of subsidies, the Special Rapporteur reiterates that data should be collected and disaggregated. 2. Disconnections due to an inability to pay 67. Any discussion on affordability must also include the issue of disconnections due to an inability to pay. Currently, there are, on average, 24,000 disconnections each month for the entire country, out of a total of 6.9 million domestic connections. Although relatively low as a proportion, it is possible that a new tariff could aggravate the situation. The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to carry out a survey looking into the reasons for disconnections as a preventive measure and encourages all service providers to monitor the reasons for disconnections and the subsequent measures taken. Given that disconnection due to an inability to pay is a violation of the human right to water, he urges the Government to set up legal mechanisms to prohibit such a practice. 3. Public toilets 68. In Sabah, the Special Rapporteur learned that there were different types of toilets according to the price that individuals paid: the public toilet on the ground floor of a mall 15