Source : New Straits Times, Malaysia, 28 Aug 2010
By : Ravi Nampiar
  

	WASTE TRAP : Pollutants accumulated and trapped on both sides of the crosssing could not be flushed into the open sea.

Hydrologist Dr Low Kwai Sim, who has done extensive studies on water quality in the strait, described the waterway as "a giant toxic sink", filled with heavy metals and foul-smelling sewage and leachate.

She said the pollutants accumulated over the years and trapped on both sides of the 82-year-old crossing could not be flushed out to the open sea.

Consequently, the two "dead water" bodies flanking the Causeway will have the worst ecological conditions of any waterway or rivers in the country if left in the present state. The danger is that if the Causeway is not demolished to allow for the free flow of tides and currents, the pollution level could begin to impact people's lives.

"There will be health hazards such as skin irritation and other ailments, including hair loss, if we sit back and do nothing to improve the water quality," Low told the New Straits Times.

She noted that the deteriorating water quality in the strait had been acknowledged by Malaysia and Singapore, which had jointly commissioned a scientific study in 1994.

Known as the Murray-North Report, it had recommended that the Causeway be broken to improve water quality by freeing harmful algal booms, bacteria and pollution now ensnared in the waters.

Although some of the ideas were eventually adopted and implemented, there has been no action since to do away with the Causeway.

"That was more than 12 years ago. Imagine how bad the water quality is now," said Low, a former Universiti Malaya professor and now the director of Asia Pacific Environmental Consultants Sdn Bhd.

Low said these conditions were due not only to pollution from rivers such as Sungai Segget, Sungai Pulai and Sungai Johor here, but also from across the strait in Singapore.

The Murray-North Report found conclusive evidence of discharges into the strait from the Kranji sewage plant. Warm-water discharge from the Senoko plant, it noted, had also contributed to the deterioration of water quality in the strait.

Low described this as Singapore's "backyard syndrome", with activities there having a direct impact on Johor.

She pointed out that the five culverts under the Causeway on Malaysia's side have been completely blocked and sealed by sediments over the years since the Causeway was built in April 1924.

"The only way out now is to demolish the Causeway and release the water," she said. "This will lead to oxygenation of the water, which is good for marine life."