The Impacts of land use change on water quality in Ampang waterfront, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract

The land use development and increasing population has brought significant changes in land cover and placed stress on water quality within tropical river catchments, including those of Malaysia and especially Ampang waterfront. There is a need to investigate the impact of land use changes on water quality, such as Ampang River, which is located in Ampang Jaya, since these provide the water resources that cater for the rapid urbanization and industrialization that characterizes Malaysia. The research aim is to determine the impact of surrounding land uses on environmental status of Ampang waterfront, which guided by four objectives. Different land uses are associated with different activities, and these activities may be directly or indirectly affect the quality of the waterfront. Findings from this study provides information for local river managers, development planners, and will assist them in minimizing the negative impacts of development on water resources, while promoting sensible planning within river basins especially in the newly developed catchments such as Ampang Jaya. An analysis of land use in the Ampang waterfront indicates that, there has been a significant change happen in the land use of Ampang Jaya because of the urban area that increased. This study suggests that up-scaling the findings of small catchment studies of forest removal is far from simple, especially in the wet tropics, where the impact of tree crops on water relations may be insufficiently distinguished from primary or secondary forests. According to the findings of the research, there is conflict between Ampang waterfront and the surrounding land uses. In addition, the intensity of development in the area (5km radius) is high. This signifies that the planning tools used in controlling development in the area are not effective enough. Commercial activity is among the main activities that affects the waterfront. Its effects manifests in different ways such as water pollution, land degradation, urban runoff and seasonal flooding. This can be through expansion of commercial lands and the use of agro-chemicals industrial activities affect the waterfront in various ways such as water pollution, also flora and fauna extinction in the river.