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QUESTION:Robinson Falls used to provide a
spectacular backdrop for Jungle Walk No 9, one of many
beautiful hiking trails in Cameron Highlands.
But nowadays, hikers try not to look at the water because it
has become muddy with silt caused by land-clearing
activities.
At the beginning of the trail, the drone of an excavator has
replaced the sound of birds singing.
""I can finish eating, but my work never ends,'' the
excavator driver, who wanted to be known only as Mr Wong,
told The Straits Times.
His work is to clear the silt from the river that flows down
to the hydro-electric dam in Ringlet.
He works 10 hours a day in a monotonous cycle clearing the
river, but behind the excavator, fresh landslides continue
to deposit soil into the river.
Fed up with illegal land clearing and uncontrolled
development, local residents are now beginning to voice
their concerns to the authorities.
Mr Jason Chin, 28, a resident, studied law in Britain but
returned to his hometown and is now the assistant park
officer at the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) centre in
Ringlet.
He has been trying to get residents to join the MNS as a way
to educate them in environmental awareness, but it is slow
going.
There are only a handful of members so far.
""I love Cameron Highlands,'' he told The Straits Times. ""I
just hope my children will be able to enjoy the place as it
once was.'
ANSWER: isn't silt the biggest enemy of a hydro-electric dam?
is the power plant still producing what it is designed to produce
cheaply or is the cost savings thrown away by the need to keep
clearing the silt?
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