Abstract
Awareness on salt intrusion problem is still lacking in Malaysia due to high precipitation in the region. However, the El-Nino phenomenon that occurred recently has caused extremely low fresh water discharge in the Kuantan River which allowed the sea water to intrude further into its water intake region. Consequently, the Belat River may become potential water resources alternative to build new water intake station for the water supply in the Kuantan River Basin. The aims of this study are to: 1) investigate the salinity distribution in the Belat Estuary; 2) evaluate the applicability of the 1-D analytical salt intrusion solution; 3) determine the calibration parameters in the salt intrusion model. Salt intrusion measurements was conducted during the dry season at spring tide when the fresh water discharge is the minimum. Collection of data such as hydrological data, river cross section and salinity were collected to be used in the salt intrusion analysis. The results obtained show good agreement between the simulated and observed salinity distribution in the estuary with low RMSE and high NSE values. This indicates that the model is reliable and can become an important tool for water manager in conducting salt intrusion study for this area.
Highlights
Nowadays, salt water intrusion problems have become critical and serious issues that need to be addressed, especially in arid and semi-arid region
Salinity intrusion investigation have been successfully conducted for the Belat Estuary during both High Water Slack (HWS) and Low Water
The vertical salinity distribution results show that the mixing mechanism in the Belat Estuary can be classified as well-mixed
Summary
Salt water intrusion problems have become critical and serious issues that need to be addressed, especially in arid and semi-arid region. The concentration of salinity level is vital especially when the water in an estuary is used for human consumption. High salt concentration in water can bring harm to human health. This problem can affect the natural cycle of the estuarine ecosystem especially the biodiversity in the region. Apart from that, human activities such as dredging and construction of dams potentially causing salt intrusion problems that affect the quality of water resources and give a threat to marine species. There are two components in the 1-D analytical salt intrusion model of Savenije [9-11] which are the geometry and longitudinal salinity distribution analyses.
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