BEFORE the dams, the grid of canals and planned irrigation padi fields in Kedah were planted just once a year and laid fallow for the remaining six months.

The Muda dam, built in the 19070s can store 125,000 acre-feet of wate. It is one of the dams that could be affected if a proposal to log the catchment forests around it gain approval - pix by Mohd Rifaat Abd Hamid

Double cropping was just a dream till the Pedu and Muda dams were built and the Muda Irrigation scheme came into being in the 1970s.

Phang Fatt Khow was then a young agriculture officer and the catchment forests of Ulu Muda a dark and dangerous place of wild beasts and communists.

Now retired from his job at the Rice Seed Centre, he knows what it would be like for padi to go without irrigation.

He worries about that the state's plan to log could silt up the dams and shorten their livespan.
If its income the state's looking for then there are alternatives, says Phang who now heads the Kedah branch of the Malaysian Nature Society.

For instance the area could be declared a state park and the wildlife-rich forests developed for eco-tourism.

"Look at Sabah and Sarawak where they're serious about eco-tourism.

"They plan and manage it well compared with those in Peninsular Malaysia.

"They could also raise water charges and taxes but those would be politically unpopular decisions," he says.

"Yes, logging will bring in quick money but is the profit worth the problems its going to cause farmers, expanding industries and towns and settlements in three states?" asks Water Watch Penang president Dr Chan Ngai Weng.

Kedah should also pursue the federal government to keep its promise of paying RM100 million to the state for protecting its catchment forests, he suggests.

The other option is for Kedah to approach Penang and Perlis to discuss the possibility of payment for the water it provides, he adds.

"In a friendly manner, not with guns blazing! It's always better to negotiate," says Chan.

There's no law compelling Penang to pay Kedah for water when they share the river it is drawn from, says Chan.

"But I am sure, Penang will be willing to listen and talk, since the protection of the Ulu Muda catchment is vital in ensuring adequate clean water in the river."