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| Sick river: Sungai Belatop is one of the rivers in the Lojing Highlands which has been found to contain high levels of suspended solids as well as heavy minerals. |
GUA MUSANG: Lojing is dying. Something must be done fast by the authorities to rehabilitate the highlands or it will face problems like Ringlet in Cameron Highlands.
The saddening fact is massive land clearing for farms in the Lojing Highlands was highlighted more than three years ago.
No action was taken since then and now, the situation seems to be going downhill in the country’s Main Range, with no signs of improvement.
The highlands, which was pristine as recently as the late 1990s, has lost half of its forest cover, endangering the lives of orang asli settlement and rare species such as Rafflesia flowers.
The soil erosion is so bad that the water is now almost undrinkable. “This is serious because Sungai Belatop is an upstream river in the highlands which joins up to Sungai Brok.
“There are orang asli settlements there which use these rivers for their daily water needs and Sungai Nenggiri in Kuala Krai before flowing into Sungai Kelantan in Kota Bharu,” said hydrological and water quality modelling expert Prof Dr Mohd Ekhwan Toriman.
Prof Mohd Ekhwan pointed out that the major source of sedimentation in Sungai Kelantan came from the Lojing Highlands as a result of soil erosion which was also one of the main reasons why the river was not suitable to supply water in Kelantan.
The state now has to rely on tube wells for water in the area. Heavy sedimentation as a result of soil erosion in Sungai Belatop in the highlands meant a reduction in the river’s capacity to hold the water.
“In Sungai Belatop, rainfall is localised over that particular area which can cause debris flood and mudflows and affect the Orang Asli settlements downstream.
“Lojing needs to be rehabilitated fast in order to prevent it from deteriorating further,” he said in an interview.
The Lojing Highlands, said Prof Mohd Ekhwan, was the backbone of Peninsular Malaysia as part of the Main Range, which contributed 60% of the country’s water reserves and acted as an indicator of local climate change.
“Any uncontrolled development will change the hydrological water cycle,” he said, adding that it was “still not too late to save Lojing”.
Showing a topography map of the highlands, Prof Mohd Ekhwan indicated that over a quarter of the land was at between 25° and 35° in inclination which was considered very steep.
“If you put a map of the land use side by side, you will notice that this corresponds with the areas cleared for farming. “This is because it’s near the river network,” he said.
It has been reported that much of the land – some on steep hills – had been cleared for vegetable plots, especially by farmers from Cameron Highlands.
Many of these farms are not following best management practices such as proper waste disposal.
Prof Mohd Ekhwan said his study showed that one hectare was churning out 24 tonnes of coco peat and plastic waste, with about 26,301 tonnes of waste being produced yearly.
“If much of this waste is thrown into the river, it will have a huge environmental impact,” he said.
A 2012 study by Prof Mohd Ekhwan’s team showed that Sungai Belatop had rising levels of magnesium from the use of fertilisers while iron and calcium were also on the rise.
Cameron Highlands-Kinta-Lojing is among the three Special Management Areas in the Main Range where agriculture and urban-related activities have been permitted under strict control to safeguard safety and environmental quality.
The team has carried out research on water quality and river modelling in Lojing Highlands for the past 20 years.
Source: The Star | Nation | 2 Oct. 2016
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