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Distribution of rivers in Malaysia.
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... consists of two parts, Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia, which are drained by 150 river systems. About 100 of these are in Peninsular Malaysia and 50 in East Malaysia Sabah and Sarawak ( Figure 1). Within these river systems is an estimated 1,800 rivers and major tributaries, with a total length exceeding 38,000 km. ...
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... During historical times, the rivers were depicted as the hub of life with settlements lining the banks and play part in the active economy of this country. However, urbanisation since 1957 has caused stress on the river systems such as turning them into open sewers (Chan et al., 2003) leading to the contribution of river pollution and an unhealthy environment. Other countries experienced similar issues and they have their way of overcoming them. ...
... There are many aspects to the degradation: water quality (e.g., Brotons and Mallari (2016); Chan et al. (2003); Lah et al., (2015)), flood mitigation function (e.g., Chan et al. (2003); Deng and Xu (2018)), aquatic ecosystem (e.g., Everard and Moggridge (2012); Steward et al. (2018)) and aesthetic value (e.g., Chen et al. (2018); Junker and Buchecker (2008); Asakawa et al., (2004); Plieninger et al. (2015)). ...
... There are many aspects to the degradation: water quality (e.g., Brotons and Mallari (2016); Chan et al. (2003); Lah et al., (2015)), flood mitigation function (e.g., Chan et al. (2003); Deng and Xu (2018)), aquatic ecosystem (e.g., Everard and Moggridge (2012); Steward et al. (2018)) and aesthetic value (e.g., Chen et al. (2018); Junker and Buchecker (2008); Asakawa et al., (2004); Plieninger et al. (2015)). ...
Community in a river neighbourhood is recognised as the root of a liveable environment despite being vulnerable to disturbances such as floods and river pollution. Adaptive capacity is a process that drives communities to be sustainable and resilient in facing such challenges. However, the river has inherited these disturbances due to anthropogenic activities in an urban area. Although the attention to the issues has shifted to the social aspect, the environmental problems persist. The intricacies of lived experiences often fail to capture the complex relationship between a community and its environment. This research sees the phenomenon from the lens of adaptive capacity, which is still in its infancy. Hence, it aimed to generate the adaptive capacity of a community towards the disturbances in a river neighbourhood. This study took place in Kg. Pertanian, Kulai, Johor. It began with a deduction of the literature review into a theoretical framework to understand the relationship between river management and the adaptive capacity of a community. Next, data were gathered from mixed methods involving five methods, consist of survey questionnaire (n=121), focus group discussion (n=27), interview, brainstorming session, drawing, and expert interview (n=4). Factor analysis and content analysis were performed using SPSS, Nvivo12 Plus and QGIS. The result showed six factors is river management, community responses, sense of familiarity, awareness and attachment, river programme, and physical concern about the river. Meanwhile, 11 supporting drivers were further related to the community's ability to face disturbances. Three of them were dominant and supported how the community functions. These findings have extended the conceptualisation of adaptive capacity in a setting of a river neighbourhood. Neighbourliness was emphasised while staying in a disturbance-exposed environment. The norm formulated based on communal activities has shaped the neighbours' relationship and appreciation towards the river environment, allowing them to socialise. Their social interactions generate social bonding and continue to be embedded throughout their stay, leading to their understanding of the neighbourhood and later manifested in the ideation of a river environment that fits their norm. Their preferences revealed the importance of socialising in the neighbourhood. Therefore, neighbourliness is the fuel to let the activities drive their adaptive capacity to a sustainable and resilient river neighbourhood. The significance of community and neighbourliness supports the Denai Sungai Kebangsaan Program under the Ministry of Environment and Water, which enhances nature-based solutions for better planetary health. By centralising the community as the end user, it depicts the community as the root of a river development that involves a neighbourhood.
... As an equatorial region, the climate of Malaysia is affected by high rainfall. Flash flood occurrences increasingly affect highways and urban areas, especially due to recent rapid urbanization (Chan et al. 2003; Haji Keizrul bin Abdullah 2017). ...
Flash floods are not only the deadliest weather-related hazard but also one of the leading challenges with which governments and societies need to cope. Flash floods occur within a very limited time, which is insufficient to enable effective warnings and preparedness. Flash floods have become, for many reasons, the most frequent form of natural disaster in Malaysia, considerably affecting humans, property, and the economy. Modeling flash flood phenomena in the tropics is challenging due to the high topographic and meteorological complexity of these regions. The uncertain definition boundary of the monsoon flood and the multidisciplinary nature of flash flood studies also increase the challenge of the reviewing process. In this study, a systematic methodology was developed to review flash floods in Malaysia by considering all the possible related issues. This study revealed a gap in the data analysis of flash floods and that related studies in Malaysia are still not highly developed. Accordingly, the creation of a comprehensive Malaysian flash flood dataset is recommended to advance flash flood studies, modeling, and forecasting. Rainfall analysis based on Global Precipitation Measurement and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission data of different intensities also confirmed the high variability of rainfall in Malaysia. The highest variability in the hourly-based rainfall dataset was observed in the central region. The information and findings presented here will be useful for interested hydrologists and decision-makers by enabling better water management. Additionally, the proposed recommendations for future research could pave the way for a better understanding of flash floods in Malaysia, and the method could be applied in different river basins worldwide.
... Disappointingly, they have also become the polluters of rivers. Pollution is not a new issue in urban river studies as it has surfaced since the early industrial era (Chan, 2009;Chan et al., 2003;Chen et al., 2018;Elfithri et al., 2011;Eze & Knight, 2018;Kumar et al., 2018;Wang, 2018). Serious attention is needed to address urban river degradation from a social perspective. ...
... Particularly in Malaysia, rivers are one of life's sources that were historically responsible for the growth of neighbourhoods (Chan et al., 2003). Md. ...
... Human intervention has been affecting all aspects of urban rivers, including the rivers' form and functions, on a global scale (Wohl, 2014). As a result, the rivers face persistent environmental issues since 2003, mainly pollution, as indicated by many authors (e.g.: Chan, 2005Chan, , 2012Chan et al., 2003;Elfithri et al., 2011;Parsons & Thoms, 2018). ...
Urban river neighbourhood communities have been swiftly adapting to rapid urbanisation despite the unsolved issues with their rivers. These issues indicate that there are gaps that need to be addressed, particularly the ones related to social aspects. In an attempt to fill in those gaps, this study aimed to identify the drivers of the adaptive capacity of an urban river neighbourhood community in Kg. Pertanian, Kulai, Johor. Data were elicited through focus group discussions with 27 residents followed by subsequent personal interviews. The obtained transcriptions were analysed by Nvivo12. From the results, it was found that there were three dominant drivers, namely ‘community identity’, ‘community response’, and ‘stakeholder agency’. ‘Community identity’ refers to the community’s contentment with life and its essential neighbourly relationships. ‘Community response’ reflects the community’s process of learning from experience and how its residents used the knowledge to benefit the community’s well-being. Finally, ‘stakeholder agency’ encompasses the community’s engagement and communication with stakeholders to avoid conflict during upcoming planning for its urban river and neighbourhood. These drivers were based on the community’ experiences or social memory. Interactions during floods and community events became the foundation for social memory. The interactions also bonded the people in the community, which was evident from the residents’ participation. All in all, the adaptive capacity and consequently the resilience of the urban river neighbourhood community can be attributed to three drivers: ‘community identity’, ‘community response’, and ‘stakeholder agency’.
... The country receives significant amounts of annual rainfall, with the average ranging between 2000 mm and 3200 mm. This phenomenon has resulted in high surface runoff and formed an extensive stream network, i.e. more than 150 river systems in Malaysia (Weng et al., 2003). This precious natural resource accounts for 80.5% of the raw water supply in 2017 (The Malaysian Water Association, 2018). ...
... Groundwater has become a very important water source globally due to water scarcity that resulted from surface water contaminations and climates effects. Depletion of surface water during dry season and current rapid urbanization and industrialization, the demand of clean water supply becomes more critical [7], [8]. In Malaysia, groundwater is treated as a secondary source where less than 2% of water consumed sourced from groundwater mostly at State of Kelantan and Perlis leaving groundwater storage untouched [9]- [11]. ...
The recent climate condition and pollution problem related to surface water have led to water scarcity in Malaysia. Huge amount of groundwater has been identified as viable source for drinking water. This paper was aimed to investigate groundwater's quality at specific location and metakaolin's potential in the groundwater treatment in the removal of manganese. Groundwater purging was determined to be sufficient at 120 minutes where all three parameters (pH, dissolved oxygen and conductivity) were stabilized. The groundwater studied is classified as both anoxic and reductive due the low dissolved oxygen value. It also can be categorized as brackish due to high value of conductivity and total dissolved solid. Manganese content in groundwater was determined as higher than of that permissible limit for raw water and drinking water which makes it unsuitable for them not suitable for consumption and cleaning purpose. Average manganese concentration in samples was 444.0 ppb where the concentrations of manganese ranged from 229.4 ppb to 760.3 ppb. Manganese developed is not that a strong positive correlation against iron concentration, total dissolved solids and conductivity; whereas has a moderate negative correlation against dissolved oxygen. The capability adsorption of manganese by metakaolin was assessed via batch method which indicated optimum dosage and contact time was 14g that removed average 30.2% and contact time optimum at 120 minutes which removed 33.2% manganese from the sample.
... Chun et al. (2012) pula menyatakan bahawa pencemaran sungai adalah berpunca daripada pelepasan sumber pencemaran bukan titik (non-point sources) seperti pembuangan daripada sisa industri ke dalam sungai tanpa dirawat, pembuangan sampah sarap, pemendapan tanah yang berlaku kesan daripada pembangunan, perlombongan pasir sungai, penternakan haiwan dan aktiviti pertanian. Hal ini telah mengubah fungsi sungai sebagai keperluan air dan tebatan banjir (Chun et al., 2012;Weng et al., 2003). Kesan pencemaran sungai juga akan menyebabkan peningkatan kos ke loji rawatan air minum, peningkatan kos untuk memulihkan sungai, kepupusan hidupan akuatik, kemusnahan tempat rekreasi semula jadi, banjir kilat, terjejasnya aktiviti pelancongan dan kesihatan manusia (Chun et al., 2012). ...
Isu alam sekitar bukanlah merupakan suatu perkara yang asing lagi di negara ini terutamanya isu yang melibatkan pencemaran sungai. Pencemaran sungai akan menjejaskan sumber makanan, aktiviti ekonomi, keadaan kesihatan, dan sebagainya dalam kehidupan manusia. Objektif kajian ini ialah untuk membincangkan kesedaran komuniti dalam berhadapan dengan isu pencemaran Sungai Pinang dengan menggunakan indikator pengetahuan, kesan, dan tindakan. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kuantitatif melalui borang soal selidik dengan melibatkan seramai 100 responden komuniti yang tinggal di kawasan Sungai Pinang. Para responden telah dipilih secara rawak mudah untuk terlibat dalam proses pengumpulan data. Dapatan data telah dianalisis dengan menggunakan perisian Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) versi 22.0 untuk mendapatkan nilai frekuensi dan peratusan. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa secara dominannya, sumber pengetahuan komuniti mengenai pencemaran Sungai Pinang ialah berdasarkan pemerhatian mereka sendiri, manakala pengetahuan mereka mengenai punca pencemaran Sungai Pinang yang dominan ialah hasil daripada aktiviti pembuangan sampah sarap. Bagi kesan pencemaran Sungai Pinang yang dominan ialah udara berbau busuk dan persekitaran kotor. Bagi tindakan mereka yang dominan terhadap pencemaran Sungai Pinang pula ialah memastikan pintu dan tingkap rumah sentiasa ditutup dan memasang jaring keselamatan di halaman rumah. Kajian ini berpotensi dalam memberi gambaran dan kefahaman kepada masyarakat untuk berdepan dengan isu pencemaran sungai. Di samping itu juga, diharap kajian ini berupaya untuk menjadi rujukan penting kepada pihak berwajib dalam merangka strategi dan intervensi yang holistik demi kesejahteraan hidup komuniti dan alam sekitar.
... This is because there is different scale of awareness between agency and community. The lack of cooperation by community have been ongoing more than a decade (Chan, 2005;Chan, Abdullah, Ibrahim, & Ghazali, 2003;Opstal & Hugé, 2012;Verbrugge & van den Born, 2018;Wohl, 2014). Study by Parsons and Thoms (2018) state that without the sense of awareness in both key players, it will result mismatch in achieving the resilient river. ...
... It highlights only on the technical aspect of water body such as its fluvial geomorphology, flood risk, and river bank treatment. Thus, there are studies that claimed there is lack of social aspect in river management (Angriani et al., 2018;Chan, 2009;Chan et al., 2003;Elfithri, Toriman, Mokhtar, & Juahir, 2011;Shafaghat, Mir Ghasemi, Keyvanfar, Lamit, & Ferwati, 2017) including DID. ...
... With the status of a developing country and the rapid paces of urbanisation, Malaysia is not spared from the rising issues of urban riparian management [9,10] and Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect [11,12]. In the attempt to address both issues, urban vegetation plays an important role and it has been time and again proven to be one of the many major strategies in mitigating river pollution [13,14,15], apart from mitigating elevated temperature and its negative impact [16,17]. ...
The urban riparian in Malaysia is also known as river reserve. Section 62 of the National Land Code 1965 has stipulated that the State Authority has the power to reserve state land for any public purposes, including river reserves. Nonetheless, its criteria are determined by the width of the reserved land and are highlighted only for bank stabilization, biodiversity, and water quality purposes. Additionally, some studies have proven that vegetated urban riparian promotes thermal reduction, in comparison to those covered with mere hard surfaces. As such, this study looked into the effect of urban riparian structure upon local thermal environment so as to gain an overview of the possible form of heat transfer occurrence. With that, this study investigated two varied formations of river reserve located side-by-side, which is bound by the same river in Johor, Malaysia. Despite of the low-albedo materials, the developed river reserve displayed somewhat lower air temperature, when compared to undeveloped river reserve area. In addition, ambient air temperature and relative humidity of both the investigated sites were linked to some factors, such as shading and wind movement. In fact, vegetation vertical clearance that caused wind flow obstruction could have been influential as well. Therefore, the effect of vegetation structure has to be comprehensively understood. With that, it is possible to determine the multiple functions of a river reserve, especially after implementing several passive cooling strategies within the area.
... The situation is exacerbated by the El Nino phenomenon which is anticipated to further worsen the water crisis in Malaysia (Raja Zainal Abidin, 2004). Such a paradox of plenty is due to the complexity of water security issues and must be sustainably addressed (Chan et al., 2003). ...
As water scarcity increases globally due to rapid population growth, unsustainable use, water degradation and climate change, water security is increasingly becoming a serious and growing concern. Sustainable water resources management and development are central to addressing this pressing concern. One of the ways forward is through the development of multi-purpose dams. However, dam development is often mired with controversies over its environmental and social impacts. It is anticipated that multi-purpose dam development is going to gain attention in Malaysia; the question at issue is not only about the multi-purpose dam development per se, but the sustainable water resources management. This article attempts to discuss water security issues in the Malaysian context, the needs for sustainable water resources management and environmentally sustainable multi-purpose dam development.
... Pollution of Malaysian rivers is due to the effect of rapid urbanization and expansion of agriculture. Malaysian rivers have become overstressed and have been pushed to their limits to provide life sustaining resources [48]. It is noted that out of 91 monitored rivers in Malaysia, only three were very polluted in 1987. ...
... Whereas in the year 2002, out of 120 rivers monitored, 22 were found to be very polluted. The Klang river in Malaysia underwent seven years of clean-up programs and demonstrated encouraging results, yet some aspects of the project were frustrating like solid waste disposal into the river [48]. The study conducted by Chan et al. illustrated that river rehabilitation programs in Malaysia can only be successful with a joint venture of government, local people and NGOs [48]. ...
... The Klang river in Malaysia underwent seven years of clean-up programs and demonstrated encouraging results, yet some aspects of the project were frustrating like solid waste disposal into the river [48]. The study conducted by Chan et al. illustrated that river rehabilitation programs in Malaysia can only be successful with a joint venture of government, local people and NGOs [48]. A case study conducted by Chun et al. revealed that most people in Malaysia are willing to participate in river conservation programs [49]. ...
Rivers are vital water resources which are being altered due to urbanization and industrialization, causing threats to the environment. As a result, rehabilitation of polluted rivers has gained great importance during the last century in many countries of the world. Literature on river rehabilitation projects has been reviewed in this paper, highlighting the experiences gathered in the developed nations of the world; such as the USA, the UK, Japan, etc. Rehabilitation issues of the rivers crossing borders have also been discussed in this paper. Key lessons from different experiences in different regions have been extracted and a comparison has been made. Summarised statistics on different experiences also have been presented. Finally, some guidelines have been provided based on various experiences, which should be helpful for developed and developing nations while making their river rehabilitation efforts.
