The Star, Malaysia : River Pollution - Checking troubled waters

Tuesday, February 18, 2003

Checking troubled waters

MENTION that we have two rivers flowing through the heart of Kuala Lumpur and most people would, after some thought, reply: “Oh, you mean those huge monsoon drains.”

They may be forgiven for saying so if our rivers no longer look like rivers. Engineering-driven solutions to riverbank erosion and flooding only show the futility of trying to manipulate nature.

Engineering fixes that promote straightening and widening of a river, with little understanding of its morphology and hydrology, have resulted in poorly conceptualised flood mitigation measures.

Nature has a way of fighting back, and concrete banks are washed away. In the end more money has to be spent to rehabilitate collapsed riverbanks.

Excessive drainage of the Tarim River in Xinjiang, China, to irrigate farmland had dried up the river and resulted in devastating desertification.

Under a new blueprint, the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) has, among other strategies, proposed the re-meandering of rivers wherever applicable.

“We’re looking at the possibility of removing the concrete as much as possible. We are moving away from concrete-lining our rivers and looking at more holistic and integrated ways to manage our rivers,” says DID director-general Datuk Keizrul Abdullah. Keizrul was speaking at the East Asia Regional Seminar on River Restoration in Kuala Lumpur last month.

The DID’s new vision calls for a paradigm shift in the way rivers are being managed. The agency, whose main function is to mitigate floods, finds that it can no longer keep on widening and deepening rivers to improve their carrying capacity.

“We have been identifying flood-prone areas since 1971, and trying to solve the problem but it is a never-ending quest. Over the years new development has cropped up and new flood-prone areas have emerged. We simply cannot continue with this system,” laments Keizrul.

In the meantime, the DID had responded in various ways. Ponds to retain floodwater were constructed at places before the river reaches a bottleneck and bunds were erected to protect low-lying areas. In January 2001, an urban storm water management manual was introduced, compelling developers to submit water retention plans to control excessive run-offs at source.

Under the Eighth Malaysia Plan, the department has been allocated RM1.5bil to carry out flood relief plans but Keizrul says this is nowhere near the RM10bil needed to solve the problem. The DID will be asking for a bigger allocation during the mid-term review.

Choking rivers

Deforestation, dam construction, silt from construction sites, industrial discharges and dumping of solid wastes have greatly undermined the capacity of our rivers to carry excessive run-offs to the sea.

According to the Department of Environment’s (DOE) Water Quality Index for 2000, 52 river basins were polluted with suspended solids resulting from poorly planned and uncontrolled land clearing activities; 18 river basins had low oxygen levels resulting from industrial discharges; and 33 river basins were polluted with ammoniacal nitrogen from animal husbandry activities and domestic sewage disposal.

The Tarim River after its restoration programme, which managed to halt the encroaching desert zone and bring back water to the riverbed and associated floodplains. Programmes such as this are crucial to bring nature back to our rivers.

In his seminar paper titled River Pollution Prevention and Water Quality Improvement in Malaysia, DOE’s assistant director (river section) Dr Zulkifli Abdul Rahman says most of the pollution is caused by the disposal of partially treated or untreated human and animal wastes.

“The sources of pollution have remained for years, negating the efforts made to improve the quality of our river water,” says Zulkifli.

“What is even more alarming is the declining trend in the number of clean rivers over a 10-year period from 1990 to 2000. There were 48 clean rivers in 1990; in 2000 there were only 34 clean rivers.”

Zulkifli points out that the centralised sewage treatment system is often inadequate and serves only a small percentage of the city.

However, the Government has expressed the need for upgrading works to continue and new sewerage treatment plants to be built under the Third Outline Perspective Plan (2001-2010).

Increasing industrialisation has also caused a shift in pollution sources from agro-based chemicals to industrial-based pollutants. This brings with it a new set of environmental problems such as toxic and hazardous wastes which find their way into our waterways and can be passed on to humans through the consumption of fish and crustaceans harvested from polluted rivers and streams.

Zulkifli points out that the manufacturing sector is not subjected to any licensing mechanism which compells them to install pollution control devices.

“Environmental compliance varies from industry to industry,” observes Dr Zulkifli, adding that alternative options such as cleaner production, waste minimisation and waste re-utilisation are being emphasised.

“By and large, industries are still hesitant about adopting cleaner production measures. A few industries would rather pay fines than improve their in-house production or effluent treatment capacity. Enforcement must be stepped up in the years to come to ensure that our river water quality does not deteriorate further.”

Vital link

DID’s Keizrul laments that since our water supply comes from pipes, we seem to have forgotten that rivers are our source of water, and have turned them into convenient conduits for the disposal of domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural wastes.

Industrial pollution could have a grave impact on river fauna like fish. Fish kills have often been reported in the country.

“We have exploited our rivers beyond sustainable levels, and in many places, what is left is a degraded river system. The river becomes polluted and devoid of aquatic life; it gets silted up and cannot perform its function as a drainage channel,” says Keizrul.

“In many countries in East Asia, flooding has become a prevalent problem in towns and cities, causing social and economic losses. Lives are lost, and land and property damaged.

“Restoring rivers is not cheap. If we do not act now and put into place strategies and programmes to conserve and preserve our rivers, future options to bring nature back to our rivers would be even costlier.”

DID embarked on its first clean-up with the Klang River in 1992. The following year saw the launch of the ongoing nationwide Love Our River campaign. Sadly, the clean-up never ends.

Keizrul admits there is little or no evaluation of the campaign. “We do not know the exact impact but without it, I think our rivers will be worse off.”

Thanks to the campaign, the Klang River has been desilted, animal farms relocated, programmes to bring fish life back in the upper catchment areas were carried out, and thrash booms were placed in the lower reaches of the river.

Besides the Klang River, the DID has started cleaning up the Penang River under a RM3mil allocation for phase one of the project which kicked off last year. There is also an ongoing project to remove organic pollutants from Sungai Melaka in Langkawi.

The DID’s broad-based strategies also serve to ensure a continuous supply of clean water for the country as 98% of our water comes from rivers. The remaining 2% is from groundwater.

For a developing country like Malaysia, having sufficient water is pivotal to its overall economic growth. In fact, the domestic and industrial water demands are expected to increase by 60% from 9.5mil litres per day (mld) in 1995 to 15.3mld in 2010, and by 113% to 20.3mld in 2020, says Zulkifli.

“Problems related to water such as water shortages could impede social and economic progress as set out under the national development plans. Apart from the need to adhere to good water conservation habits, the growing demands will exert further pressure for additional supplies of water,” he adds.

Need for conservation

For a country that records 3,000mm rainfall per year with 57% of surface runoffs, Malaysia is certainly in a position to halt the impending water shortage crisis if sound water conservation methods and incentives are given the right priority as national policies.

Instead, we are looking at new projects to generate new sources of water, such as the controversial inter-state piping project to transport water from Pahang to Selangor.

Keizrul reckons that Selangor can still remain a water-sufficient state despite rapid economic growth if it can be ensured of clean water from its own rivers.

“For this to happen, we must get the full support of the Selangor populace, the industrialists and all the relevant government agencies. If the people realise that there is no lasting solution other than to conserve their own water source, they will stop the pollution,” says Keizrul.

Another not so well explored method of water conservation is recycling, says Faizal Parish, executive director of Global Environment Centre, a PJ-based non-governmental organisation that is promoting river restoration globally.

“There is virtually no effort by industrial and domestic users to recycle used water. When we look for alternatives, we have to ask if the solution is cost-effective. Recycling is cheaper than sourcing for new water sources.

“Some countries such as the Philippines give incentives to households to save water. The benefits from recycling water are widespread and do not benefit a single enterprise. It could well be the impetus for the development of a whole new technology-based industry with expertise and products which could be exported,” adds Faizal.

Like many developing countries which are facing the ill-effects of development, Malaysia is turning to a more sustainable method in river management: the Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM), a concept which looks into the whole river system from its headwaters to its middle course, associated lakes and floodplains, right down to where the river empties itself into the sea at the estuary.

Worldwide, poor management of land and water resources in many river basins has led to major floods, water shortages, pollution and loss of biodiversity, says Faizal whose organisation has adopted IRBM as one of its worldwide programmes.

“There is need for an integrated approach to river basin management which incorporates ecosystem values, functions and services. Restoration of rivers, wetlands and biodiversity in Asia is still in an experimental stage,” says Faizal.

“The three main areas in river restoration are catchment protection or rehabilitation, restoration of river and floodplains, and estuarine restoration.

Sungai Selangor was selected to serve as a pilot project for the IRBM system in the country. A pioneering institution, the Selangor Water Management Authority was formed to carry out a four-year restoration programme, starting last October.

While the Malaysian project has just taken off, elsewhere the IRBM system has brought about remarkable results.

In his paper, A Review of River Restoration Experience in East Asia, Faizal cited the Tarim River restoration work in China which had successfully restored flow in the lower reaches of the dried-up river and halted expansion of the desert within two years after the five-year project kicked off in 2000.

The Tarim, which runs 2,100km through the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in western China, had for the past 40 years been experiencing a sharp reduction in water flow in its middle and lower basins, and intensified desertification which ate into its poplar woodland.

Faizal attributed the environmental degradation to poor water resource management. Opening up of farmlands and population growth in the upper reaches had increased the demand for irrigation water, resulting in reduced water volumes in the mainstream Tarim and the drying up of 320km of the river channel in the lower reaches for nearly 20 years.

“The restoration includes enhancing integrated water resources management, developing and promoting water saving techniques, constructing river banks and restoring natural vegetation,” explains Faizal.

“A sliding scale was introduced for water charges, depending on the implementation of water-saving devices by the farmers. Wasteful farmers had to pay more for the water they use.”

After two years, water began to flow in some of the dry tributaries such as the Peacock River, and last year, water reached Taitema lake for the first time in 30 years.

“This is one of the most successful schemes to restore flow in a dried river,” adds Faizal. “However, more work is needed to assess whether the biodiversity of the restored system will recover without direct intervention.”

International Year of Freshwater 2003

THE International Year of Freshwater was declared by the United Nations General Assembly on Dec 20, 2000, to galvanise action on the critical water problems the world faces.

The International Year comes at an important time, just as world leaders have agreed on key targets to tackle water and sanitation problems for the 1.2 billion people without access to safe drinking water and the 2.4 billion people who lack proper sanitation – an agreement reached at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg last September.

It aims to increase awareness of the importance of sustainable freshwater use, management and protection.

It also calls upon governments, national and international organisations, non-governmental organisations and the private sector to make voluntary contributions and to lend other forms of support to the Year.

The International Year of Freshwater is being jointly coordinated by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

Global importance of rivers

Energy: Hydropower is the most important and widely-used renewable source of energy; it represents 19% of total electricity production.

Agriculture: Almost 70% of all available freshwater (river, groundwater, aquifers) is drained for agriculture.

Industry: The annual water volume used by industries will rise from 752cu.km per year in 1995 to an estimated 1,170cu.km per year in 2025. In 2025, the industrial component is expected to represent about 24% of total freshwater withdrawal.

Domestic use: Households, drinking water and sanitation account for about 8% of water consumption.

Global degradation of river basins

Energy: Worldwide there are now about 45,000 large dams in operation. Collectively, they’ve inundated more than 400,000sqkm of mostly productive land – an area the size of California. One-fifth of the world’s freshwater fish are now endangered or extinct.

Agriculture: Poor drainage and irrigation practices have led to saline build-up in about 30 million ha of the world’s 240 million ha of irrigated land. A combination of salinisation and waterlogging affects another 80 million ha. Over-pumping of groundwater by the world’s farmers exceeds natural replenishment by at least 160 billion cu.m a year.

Industry: Some 300 million to 500 million tonnes of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge and other wastes accumulate each year from industries. In developing countries, 70% of all industrial waste is dumped untreated into waters where it pollutes the water supply.