RESEARCH NOTE: Impacts of land development activities on water intake areas ofCameron Highlands

Land development is indispensable for economic growth but it is often associated with deterioration of environmental resources, in particular, the degradation of water resources. When land development activities are carried out in sensitive watersheds they normally caused negative effects on the source of the water catchment area. This article illustrates these negative impacts of land development activities on the water catchment area of Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands. The method adopted is Geographic Information Systems (GIS) version 10.1, which involves point based overlay and watershed analysis, in addition to secondary and Google Earth data. The findings confirmed that land development activities in the catchment areas had affected local water quality which in turn created problems with respect to the production and distribution of water resources in Cameron Highlands.