The state of our rivers: back to basics

ssues pertaining to environmental awareness amongst the Malaysian public have gained tremendous ground in the past decade, with participation from the media, authorities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs ), pushing the subject matter forward. The exposure covers a wide array of topics in- cluding air, land and river pollution. However, for some of the younger generation, who were brought up in an urban setting, the meaning and importance of a clean river remains rather elusive. For most the part, urban river systems are polluted due to anthropogenic (man-made ) activities within a river ba- sin; take for example Sg. Galing Besar in the Sg. Kuantan basin, shown in Figure 1 below. The river has been channelized and is overwhelmed with various contaminants entering it. The high organic pollution level results in severe oxygen depletion, “choking ” aquatic species particularly those, which are more sensitive.