Water Quality Assessment of Bertam River and its Tributaries in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

The expansion of the urban population within Bertam river catchment in Cameron Highlands increased the input of organic matter to the river system. It originates from sewage and fertilizers, through point sources and non-point sources of pollution. This organic pollution causes very severe bio-contamination with bacteria and viruses, which can cause some serious diseases. On the other hand, it is apparent that an assessment of water quality cannot focus on chemical indicators alone, but must instead focus on indicators that integrate the effects of physical, chemical and biological contaminations. Therefore, in this research the pH, EC, TDS, COD, Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphor and E.coli at four points (SP1 to SP4) of Bertam river and five points (SP5 to SP9) of its tributaries were measured during average and high water flow to determine and specify the level of pollution in the river. Results show water quality of the Bertam river deteriorates and continues just after its origin at SP1 as huge increase of total solids up to 4000 mg/L was observed during high water flow at SP2 while it was around 5 mg/L at SP1 in same period. Also the high concentrations of Total Nitrogen and Phosphorus was observed at SP2 (17 mg/L N and 14 mg/L P) and SP5 ( 9.7 mg/L N and 8.7 mg/L P) during high water flow. Finally, the presence of E.coli of more than 200 MPN/100ml was found at SP2, SP3 and SP7.