Study on the river sand removal capacity: case study at Bota Kiri, Sungai Perak

Nowadays, the mining of sand resources from rivers areas especially in Perak state is a common practice and may lead to destruction of public assets as well as impacts or increase stress on commercial and noncommercial living resources that utilize these areas. This study was carried out to determine possible river sand removal capacity and their consequences towards Sungai Perak. Van Veen Grabber and Helley Smith sediment sampler are used to collect bed soil samples and determine sediment transport at the time of sampling. These two methods could estimate the suitability of available sand material and the flux of sediment transport locally. By conducting the surveys and analysing all the collected data, it showed positive results. Almost 90% of the grab samples were good quality of sand. The minimum total  quantity of minable sand in Sungai Perak at Bota Kanan is 713,073.1 tonnes (269,084.2 m3) with the maximum replenishment period of 100 days. The recharge sediment transport yield on average is in range 0.14 tonne/km2 /day to 0.53 ton/km2 /day and it is in the range of reported sediment transport yield in several Perak’s rivers (0.04 – 1.4 ton/km2/day). By implementing this method, the negative impact of sand mining activities can be reduced and the river will be sustained.