c l i c k  h e r e  f o r  L A T E S T  N E W S

Background:
 In 1986 a study entitled "Development of Sungai Selangor for water supplies to Klang Valley and Southern Kuala Selangor" was released. The four possible dam locations identified were:
 

• The Sg. Selangor dam site is located at 66.5km of the Kuala Kubu Bharu - Fraser's Hill road.  The dam will be used for water supply and possibly as a mini-hydro for a treatment plant.

• The height of the proposed dam will be 115m. and the catchment area 197km

• The dam will inundate about 600ha of mostly state land.  Some  private land and two Temuan (Orang Asli) settlements and ancestral land will be flooded.  A 5km stretch of existing Federal route 55 from KKB to Fraser's Hill will be flooded and will need to be realigned.

• In a letter dated 20 September 1998 the Government granted permission for the Consortium TSWA-Gamuda-KDEB* to carry out the feasibility study and EIA for the proposed Sg. Selangor dam project.

Syed Mohd. Hui and Binnie (SMHB) have been appointed by the Consortium to undertake the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

PE Research Sdn. Bhd. have been appointed to undertake the social impact section of the EIA for the consortium.
 

• PE Research Sdn Bhd expect resistance to the dam from the local Orang Asli community as well as members of the public who regularly enjoy the picnic spots along the river.

• PE Research state that the Sg. Selangor dam is "preferred over the alternative Rening dam at this stage due to its much smaller reservoir area which is largely state land." If chosen the alternative dam on Sg.Rening would inundate 1200ha of mainly oil palm and rubber plantations owned by Nam Bee estate and FELDA Ulu Rening settlers. A substantial area of secondary jungle or idle land and part of Kg. Ulu Rening would also be affected.

• It would appear that Puncak Niaga may also be bidding for the Sg. Selangor dam contract. Two specialists from UKM recently visited the area claiming they were conducting a social impact study for the EPU on behalf of Puncak  Niaga. As of this writing it isn't clear if this is a competitive bid or a separate study for the feasibility of building a mini-hydro to service their water treatment plant.

• Since the study was completed in 1986 the profile of the Sg, Selangor has changed considerably. Logging of the catchment area has increased the amount of silt and mud present in the river. After only moderate rainfall the river turns into a brown torrent.

• Chan Yuen Li and Lina Tan from Nomad Adventures say the river began to become heavily silted two years ago. This was the same time the slopes of Sg. Luit were being logged. The Sg. Luit is one of the main tributaries of the Sg. Selangor and joins the main river at Kg. Orang Asli Pertak.

• This will present a challenge to the dam builders and may render the dam uneconomical as it can be expected that siltation will be a major problem.  Siltation will be further exacerbated by logging of the area to be inundated.

• Past logging has also led to landslides, gully formation and general instability of the hill slopes in the whole area designated for the dam's development.

Impact:

• Two Orang Asli settlements (Temuan) will be flooded forcing about 600 people to move from their ancestral land. This is State land which has been identified as an Orang Asli area but has still not been gazetted as such.  This will obviously have a major bearing on issues of compensation and relocation.

• The Temuan subsist almost totally off their land. Flooding it will destroy their durian and other fruit trees, petai trees, bamboo, rotan and all the other jungle produce they economically depend on.

• Many of their ancestral graves will be submerged - something they just cannot accept.

• A Government Youth Training Centre at Pertak,  privately owned fish farms, small rubber plantations, fruit orchards and private houses will also be affected.

• The effect on eco/adventure-tourism in the area will be severe. This stretch of the Sg. Selangor is a very popular weekend picnic location and there are 6 existing picnic sites serving this area which will be inundated. We estimate this stretch of the river attracts an average of 250 visitors each weekend day. This often rises to 500+ on public holidays.  Since the picnic areas were built we have noticed a steady increase in visitors to the river.

• Three whitewater rafting companies will be inundated. They are TRACKS,  NOMAD ADVENTURE, and KHERSONESE EXPEDITIONS. These companies set up their businesses along the Sg. Selangor in line with the Selangor State Government's plan to develop eco-tourism in the state. In fact there are plans to make the Sg. Selangor the national whitewater rafting venue. Earlier this year the Sg. Selangor was the venue for an international whitewater rafting event.

• Many of the townspeople from Kuala Kubu Bharu, about 4kms downstream of the dam, are very concerned about their safety if the dam project goes ahead. Their concern is not unfounded. In 1883 a dam on the Sg. Selangor burst and totally destroyed the original Kuala Kubu town which was situated further downstream and closer to the Sg. Selangor than it is    today. A new settlement, Ampang Pecah (Broken Dam), has since grown up around the original dam site.

• Both Kuala Kubu Bharu and Ampang Pecah are still very vulnerable to flooding. Human activities like mining and logging of the Sg. Selangor catchment area give rise to heavy runoff and soil erosion which raises the height of the river to dangerous levels. The worst floods were recorded in the 1920s when the whole town was flooded.

As of March 11, 1999, an ACTION COMMITTEE AGAINST SELANGOR DAM has been formed by concerned citizens, nature-lovers, and residents of Kuala Kubu Bharu to voice public outrage on the dam project:

1.     The Sg. Selangor is the only river left in the state that hasn't been fully "exploited" and therefore there would appear to be little or no choice but to develop a catchment dam on that river.

2.     According to the Jabatan Bekalan Air (JBA), the Sg. Selangor dam will be the biggest storage dam in the country.

3. All of the JBA loji air (water filtration) plants except Sg. Selangor are at full capacity. Therefore the Sg. Selangor system is seen as being the major supplier of water to KL and the Klang valley.

4. Syed Danial from Puncak Niaga said the Sg. Selangor was the 2nd most polluted river in the state. It has a high content of suspended solids (sand, mud and silt). Any water infrastructure along this river will therefore be more costly as they will have to install additional silt traps and siltation tanks.

5. Even with the Sg. Selangor dam onstream there still won't be enough water to meet projected demand and Selangor will still need to pipe water from Pahang to supplement.

6. The four JBA water plants in Selangor are distributing 2,500 million litres per day which is only just keeping pace with demand. Demand is expected to grow by 6% per annum. They have 1.3 million consumers in Selangor and the federal Territory.

7. One of the reasons that existing dams have less water is due to heat rising from Kuala Lumpur which affects local weather and rainfall patterns. Rather than falling in the catchment areas, a lot of rain is now falling on the city.

8.  At least 40% of water needed for domestic use can come from an untreated source.

9.   We get about 990 billion cubic metres of rainfall per year. 360 billion m³ goes in evapotranspiration and 566 billion m³ in run off.

10. The Drainage and Irrigation Dept (DID) say we have groundwater recharge of 646 billion m³. They claim that tapping groundwater is a good way to deal with water shortage.  In Terengganu they have a 4 million gallon per day well that serves 100,000 people and have just developed another one in Selangor that will produce 3.5 million gallons per day.

11. 97% of the water we use comes from rivers and only 3% from groundwater. In Denmark they get 99% of their water from groundwater sources.

12. A staggering 996 million litres per day or 37% of treated water is lost, what they call "non revenue water." 16% of this is lost through leakages (not consumed), 14% from water theft (consumed but not paid for), 5% non revenue from faulty water metres (consumed and not paid for) and 2% for hydrants.

13. Urban areas are predominantly impervious areas due to the high level of development.  Housing developers only have to comply with 10% open space in their designs. Therefore a lot of rainwater falling over urban areas is lost as run off. This means none of it replenishes the groundwater supply - instead it contributes to flash flooding.

14. Puncak Niaga claim it will cost RM1.65 billion to repair and replace old leaking water pipes and water mains and that it would take 10 years to complete.
 

Alternative Viewpoint:
Some alternatives to storage dams were suggested during the seminar as follows:

• Development of small ponds to serve local communities rather than having to centrally collect and store water and pipe it around the state.

• Utilise the retention capacity of existing wetlands and natural underground aquifers.

• Embark on a conservation campaign.  Don't clean teeth, shave or wash dishes with the tap running.  Use buckets to clean cars and water gardens rather than hose pipes. Reduce pollution going into rivers which means water treatment plants are not forced to shut down.

• Reduce the run off areas in urban areas by laying tiles rather than flat   cement.

• Charge more for water so that people become more aware of how much they are wasting.

• Collect rainwater to supplement your supply (can be used to flush the     toilet, clean the house, water the garden etc).

• Repair and replace all leaking water pipes and mains.

Conclusion:
There are alternatives to building yet another dam that might only be functional for a few years. Building the Sg, Selangor dam, and the road realignment that will be needed, is going to cost billions of ringgit, disrupt the lives of hundreds (and possibly thousands) of people, destroy one of the last areas of natural beauty in Selangor, destroy the thriving eco-tourism already operating in the area and put the town of KKB and Ampang Pecah at risk from dam breaches.

In short, the proposed Sg. Selangor Dam sounds like yet another titanic social, environmental, and financial DISASTER in the making. Lets stop it before it even gets started.

If you want to help in any way to prevent this dam from being developed we'd love to hear from you.  Likewise if you have any positive alternative suggestions.  Please network this information to as many people as possible.

Thanks for your support and interest.
 
 

[Photo: World Bank]

A LARGE DAM IS DEFINED AS ANYTHING OVER 15 METRES. THE PROPOSED SELANGOR DAM WOULD BE A MAJOR DAM AT 115 METRES. Ghana's Akosombo Dam was described in a  recent World Bank review of its dams as having only "possible negative environmental  impacts," although it inundated 4% of Ghana's landmass. The report's inadequacies led to an  agreement to form an international independent  review of the world's dams.