Abstract
Concerns for the river environment in Malaysia were highlighted. There had been occurrences of inadequate supply of water in
certain cities and unexpected floods over the last few years. This paper discusses the results and efforts to clean the Gombak River
which passes through several industrial areas and the City of Kuala Lumpur and the Penchala River which has an extra burden of
passing through a highly densely populated Kuala Lumpur satellite city. Both rivers were considered polluted with the Penchala
River being in a worse situation than the Gombak River. Special attention was given to the trends in the levels of Water Quality
Index (WQI) over a period of nine years from 1997 to 2005. Results of efforts which included public participation, engineering
and river works and strict statutory regulations by the government authorities had shown only slight success in improving the river
water quality. The Gombak River started with a WQI of 64 units shows improvement of 0.07 WQI units / month while the
Penchala River started with WQI of 27 units shows improvement of 0.017 units / month with BOD and Ammoniacal Nitrogen as
critical factors. Further efforts from stakeholders could be harnessed and public awareness be enhanced to strive for a healthier
Gombak and Penchala rivers.