PETALING JAYA: Heavy rain and persistent land clearing over the past few years probably contributed to the need to release more water from the Sultan Abu Bakar dam, says Regional Environmental Awareness Cameron Highlands (Reach) president R. Ramakrishnan.
He added that land clearing upstream of the dam would have created erosion and contributed to heavy sedimentation.
“These are all man-made mistakes. The siltation caused the water level in the dam to rise while the sand also damaged its turbines,” he said in an interview.
Ramakrishnan, who has constantly spoken out against ongoing land clearing in Cameron Highlands, warned that the same thing could happen near the new Ulu Jelai hydroelectric dam if massive land clearing went unchecked.
“Should the Ulu Jelai dam be required to release excess water, Lipis can be flooded,” he added.
Ramakrishnan said many farms were swept away in the torrent of water in yesterday’s incident.
However, he claimed that the farms were illegal because they had been set up on the river reserve despite the existence of TNB signboards warning farmers against doing so.
“No structure is supposed to be built in that particular area, while no human activity should take place on river reserves,” he added.
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