Pollution of Water Sources in Malaysia

1192 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on effects of poor water quality

INTRODUCTION

In Malaysia, rivers have been used as a source of water and various development needs. There is no denying that water is a very significant natural resources. Irrigation, industrial and domestic needs consume water while other development such as recreation, hydroelectric power generation, and transportation rely on the quality and availability of water (Talib, Ariffin, & Baharom, n.d.). However it seems that humans have not realized how significant it is. Deprivation of their quality and ability to perform important functions bring major consequences results in long-term economic losses and affecting the population’s quality of life as a whole. The way human use and manage rivers can cause great environmental damage that adversely affects the rivers.

STATUS OF WATER RESOURCES IN MALAYSIA

Even though Malaysia has been blessed with ample supply of water resources, non-uniform temporal and spatial rainfall distribution and increasing occurrences of river pollution have caused numerous crises in water supply services. The quality of river in Malaysia has worsened during the last several years. In recent years, more water is drawn to meet increasing demand, but more destruction results from water that is put back into them by communities, adding sewage, and other effluents and waste. The dirtiest river in the country, in terms of the quantity of rubbish found is Sungai Klang, Sungai Penchala, Sungai Segget and Sungai Ayer Merah in Johor, and Sungai Jelutong, Sungai Juru and Sungai Prai in Penang (Aruna, 2014). These rivers have been categorised as ‘dead’ as they are unable to sustain any form of aquatic life including fish and aquatic plants.

Figure 1: Children playing in Sungai Penchala, Selangor

RIVER POLLUT...

... middle of paper ...

.../news/malaysia/malaysias-rivers-filth-and-garbage

Danquah, L. (2010). The causes and health effects of river pollution: a case study of the Aboabo river, Kumasi. Retrieved from: http://dspace.knust.edu.gh:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/799/1/Leslie%20Danquah.pdf

Talib, S. A., Ariffin, J., & Baharom, B. (n.d.). River Protection: Alternative Approaches to pollution control. Retrieved from: http://ptarpp2.uitm.edu.my/suhaimiabdultalib/fulltext/riverprotection.pdf

UNESCO. (2006). Water – A Shared Responsibility: The United Nations World Water Development Report 2. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris. Retrieved from: http://www.unesco.org/bpi/wwap/press/pdf/wwdr2_prelims.pdf

WHO. (2001). Water for Health: Taking Charge, Geneva. World Health Organization. Retrieved from: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2001/WHO_WSH_WWD_01.1.pdf?ua=1

Show More
Related

  • Argumentative Essay On The Keystone Pipeline

    1244 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most of the rivers are the one being used by large communities like drinking water supply and for the farmers in their produce. The State of Department put together a commission of knowledgeable people and carried out an investigation about the risk and consequences of this project. Some of the conclusion about the spills were, for example, that: “A million of gallons of tar soil war poured into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan… 40 miles of this river still are contaminated to this day”. Another example of spills affecting communities, is the one in 2013, caused by a twenty foot crack in a pipeline, causing a huge spill of oil, damaging the residential neighborhoods and the Lake Conway in Arkansas. This spills and oil “accidents” are affecting not only the lives of people but also the wildlife, the ecosystems and the quality of air and water

    Read More

  • Developing Countries and Clean Water

    2664 Words  | 6 Pages

    Introduction on Water It covers 70% of our planet, makes up 75% of our body, it is necessary for survival and it is declining at a rapid rate (http://www.sscwd.org). It is water. Unfortunately, clean water is rare, almost 1 billion people in developing countries do not have access to water everyday. “Yet, we take it for granted, we waste it, and we even pay too much to drink it from little plastic bottles” (The Water Project). Use of earth’s natural resources should be seen as prosperity, although it is taken for granted, every aspect of daily life revolves around the environment, forcing water conservation to be necessary for future on this planet.

    Read More

  • Water Pollution in North Carolina

    416 Words  | 1 Pages

    About 80% of the State’s surveyed freshwater rivers and streams have good water quality that fully supports aquatic life uses, 17% have fair water quality that partially supports aquatic life uses, and 3% have poor water quality that does not support aquatic life uses. Ten percent of the surveyed rivers do not fully support swimming. The major sources of impairment are agriculture (responsible for 53% of the impaired river miles), urban runoff (responsible for 16%), and construction (responsible for 13%). These sources generate siltation, bacteria, and organic wastes that deplete disssolved opxygen.

    Read More

  • Water Privatization: Private vs. Public

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    4. United Nations Development Programme, U.N. Human Development Report 2006, Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty, and the Global Water Crisis, web. 6 Dec. 2009 http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr2006_english_summary.pdf

    Read More

  • Rights to Water

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is because only a small part of the population, particularly in developing countries, have access to water of acceptable quality. It is estimated that in some countries only 20% of the rural population has water of satisfactory quality. Based on these statistics, it is clear the urgent need for awareness about caring for water use. Almost without realizing it, we are seriously jeopardizing this essential resource, not for us but for our children's children and their generations, aware that in other parts o...

    Read More

  • Water Pollution in America

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    When you think of problems in the world today, water pollution isn’t one that would normally come up. In fact it is one of the worst problems in the world today. Water pollution, by definition, is the contamination of streams, lakes, underground water, bays, or oceans by any substances harmful to living things. All living things contain water and most need water to survive, so water pollution is a big problem. If severe, the pollution can kill off birds, fish, and any animals that use the water source. In some cases even killing an entire species.

    Read More

  • Gun Violence Research Paper

    1280 Words  | 3 Pages

    2.1 billion people in countries that are undergoing a form of urbanization have inaccessibility to clean drinking water as a result of pollution, poverty and poor management of resources. Water resources are being depleted by agriculture and energy production

    Read More

  • The Effects Of Water Pollution In California

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    On the one hand, water pollution poses serious threats to people’s living and health conditions. For example, according to the US Geological Survey, California has one-fifth of the water supply systems exceed the standard amount of perchlorate in the past decade. Some remote schools in Tulare County have denied students access to drinking fountains, and a school district of 260 students spends $ 10,000 or more per year on drinking water. The school will order bottled water, store and distribute it to each classroom, and collect empty bottles（Worldjournal）. A case in point is when the water resources are polluted in California, the state’s development would also be damaged. Firstly, the citizens’ living quality would be declined，because of water is so indispensable in people’s daily

    Read More

  • The Problem of Environmental Pollution in Malaysia

    737 Words  | 2 Pages

    Countries strengths are measure by it politics, economic and social but beside this, environment change is needed in Malaysia for the better of the future development, educate and lead Malaysian to more value with the environment. While government should protecting and preserving the environment.

    Read More

  • The Global Water Crisis

    2639 Words  | 6 Pages

    Freshwater in the world makes up only a small portion of the water on the planet. While the percentage of water in the world is nearly 70%, only 2.5% is consumable. Even further, only 1% is easily accessible to basic human needs. According to National Geographic, “by 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change.” With this current trend, water will become more immersed in environmental, economic, political, and social changes.

    Read More

  • The Water Crisis and Solutions

    1481 Words  | 3 Pages

    Freshwater is quite scarce, but it is even scarcer than one might think: about seventy percent of all freshwater is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland and is unavailable to humans. Most of the remainder is present as soil moisture or lies in deep underground aquifers as groundwater. It is not economically feasible to extract this waster for use as drinking water. This leaves less than one percent of the world’s fresh water that is available to humans. It includes the water found in lakes, reservoirs, groundwater that is shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. These freshwater sources are the only sources that are frequently replenished by rain and snowfall, and therefore are renewable. At the current rates of consumption, however, this supply of fresh water will not last. Pollution and contamination of freshwater sources exacerbate the problem, further reducing the amount of freshwater available for human consumption. Something must be done if humans want to even survive in the near future: the lack of clean drinking water is already the number one cause of disease in the world today. The first step is worldwide awareness of the water crisis: governments and the citizens they govern worldwide need to know about this problem and be actively involved in solving this problem.

    Read More

  • Causes, Effects and Solution of Water Polution

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Water Pollution is a current issue that has serious consequences; it progresses everyday in our lakes, oceans, rivers and other bodies of water.

    Read More

  • The Problem of Water Scarcity

    1538 Words  | 4 Pages

    The problem of water scarcity has increasingly spread throughout the world as of yet, The UN reports that within the next half- century up to 7 billion people in 60 countries which is more than the whole present population will face water scarcity (Sawin “Water Scarcity could Overwhelm the Next Generation”). As well the demand for freshwater has tripled over the past 50 years, and is continuing to rise as a result of population growth and economic development. 70% of this demand derives from agriculture which shows the influence of water on food supply globally as well not just drinking water (Sawin “Water Scarcity could overwhelm the Next Generation”). But increasing water use is not just a matter of the greater number of people needing it to drink and eat; it also comes from pollution and misuse of water supplies, by either dumping or runoff of bacteria or chemicals into water. This also “causes other pollutions as well such as soil and air pollution, accelerating wetland damage and human caused global warming” (Smith and Thomassey 25). According to UN report, recent estimates suggest that climate change will account for about 20 percent of the increase in global water scarcity in coming decades.

    Read More

  • The Problem of Garbage Disposal

    2433 Words  | 5 Pages

    Richmond, E., (2010). Pollution of streams by garbage and trash. Water encyclopedia. Retrieved: November 10, 2010, from: http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Oc-Po/Pollution-of-Streams-by-Garbage-and-Trash.html

    Read More

  • The Responsible Use of Water

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    "World Water Council - World Water Council." World Water Council - World Water Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .

    Read More

More about Pollution of Water Sources in Malaysia

Open Document