IT doesn’t take a scientist to realise that something is wrong with Sungai Pahang.
“Never seen anything like this”, and, “The worst I have ever seen in my life”, were the common answers when I asked locals, many in their 60s and 70s, about the river’s water level.
As I stood in overgrown grass under the blazing sun, I could not help but think what the future holds for this river in the next five years if nothing is done to save this vital waterway.
The grass that I was standing on was actually once the river floor.
If I were at that spot seven or eight years ago, I would have been drowning in 3m of water.
Roslan Idris, 64, a local village chief, told me that the spot was where Sungai Jelai and Sungai Tembeling converged to form Sungai Pahang. This area is called Tanjung Pasir Tambang in Kuala Tembeling, Jerantut.
Roslan gave me a toothless smile as he recalled the good old days of free-flowing water, but his eyes portrayed his worries.
“The water here would usually reach up to the jetty steps. Villagers would fish in the river. If they needed to go to town, they would hop onto a boat at this mini jetty. You could see the river level slowly decreasing years ago.
“I think it started in 2000, when lots of development was being carried out, like logging, sand mining and land clearing for agriculture.
“You can see the difference. Ten years ago, the river was crystal clear. You could safely walk on the bedrock of the river bed.
“Now, it is filled with sand and sediment. The river looks like a stream of teh tarik,” he said, adding that most of the villages had no water for almost two months since the onset of extreme hot weather.
The next day, we went downstream to Temerloh, and the conditions were even more shocking.
Parts of the river were dried up, and you could see dead fish on what used to be the river bed.
Environmentalists want the Pahang government to remap and gazette water catchment areas, mainly in Ulu Tembeling’s mountainous area, in a bid to save Sungai Pahang.
PEKA Pahang chairman Khaidir Ahmad said the Ulu Tembeling forest should be maintained as a catchment area. Converting the land into oil palm plantations should be avoided, he said, as the palms required a lot of water.
“We have asked for oil palm cultivation in this area to be stopped immediately so we can remap the catchment areas. Logging should also stop, while areas that are untouched should be protected.”
Khaidir said PEKA would issue an Ulu Tembeling Declaration this week to the Pahang Government.
He claims the state government did not have a plan to fix Sungai Pahang’s problems. So, his group will present reports and evidence to them instead.
“All the state government has done is deny there is a problem. If they want to deny something, they need to go there and see it for themselves.
He claimed Sungai Jelai was beyond restoration because of the damage caused by agriculture on Cameron Highlands.
“It is very hard for us to save Sungai Jelai. It is already gone, but we hope the new Jelai dam can revitalise it. We can only save Sungai Tembeling because there is still no mining there, only logging.
“We are not against development and we are not anti-establishment. We only want the government to save the water catchment areas,” he said.