ALOR SETAR: The high rainfall distribution and number of rainy days have caused temporary turbidity in the Tasik Muda reservoir of the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve.
Kedah Forestry Department director Muhamad Abdullah said that this situation would not disrupt the water supply in Penang.
He said that logging does not occur in the reservoir; logging activities are only approved and carried out in the production forest areas.
"There is indeed logging approval in the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve... logging is approved and carried out in the production forest area. Logging is not permitted and not carried out in areas classified as 'protected forests', such as water catchment forests and state park forests," he said when contacted here today.
Yesterday, media reported that the Malaysian Environmental Sustainability Association (Grass) chairman, Mohd Sobri Ramlee, claimed that logs were being collected in Belantek, Sik, proof that logging activities are still active in the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve.
He hopes that the state government would not continue to deny that there have been logging activities in the forest area when the effects of logging are clearly visible there.
The state government had previously denied any logging activities taking place in the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve as claimed by environmental groups following the formation of siltation (sediment pollution) in Tasik Muda.
Kedah Public Works, Natural Resources, Water Supply, Water Resources, and Environment Committee chairman, Mohamad Yusoff @ Munir Zakaria, said that the area is a protected forest that serves as a water catchment area.
Yesterday, RimbaWatch claimed that logging in the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve caused Tasik Muda– the main water source for consumers in Penang and Kedah– siltation to form and become polluted.
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A study conducted through satellite image monitoring found that Tasik Muda began accumulating silt since March last year and it has been increasing since October.
This issue is expected to affect about 80 per cent of the water supply to Penang, which relies entirely on the supply from the Ulu Muda catchment area flowing through the Muda River.
