Muda River Explained

Muda River
Source1 Location:Ulu Muda, Sik District, Kedah
Mouth Location:Sungai Petani/Kuala Muda, into the Straits of Malacca
Basin Population:Towns and settlements along the river basin Sik
Kuala Ketil
Kepala Batas (Penang)
Sungai Petani
Kota Kuala Muda
Length:203km (126miles)
Mouth Elevation:0m (00feet)
Discharge1 Avg:105m3/s[1]
Basin Size:4302km2[2]
Tributaries Left:Ketil River; Sedim River

The Muda River (Malay: Sungai Muda) is the longest river in Kedah, Malaysia.

Course

Sourced in Ulu Muda Forest in Sik region in northeastern Kedah, along the border with Thailand, the river meets the water needs of the states of Kedah and Penang. The river flows through much of Sik region, then entering the Baling region where it meets with the Ketil river, a left-bank tributary, at Kuala Ketil.

It then flows westward, passing through the southern suburbs of Kedah's second largest city Sungai Petani, and forming the natural boundary between Kuala Muda District and North Seberang Perai District on the Penangite side. The Muda river then empties into the Straits of Malacca at Kota Kuala Muda (Kuala Muda meaning lower Muda, or the estuary of the Muda river in Malay).

Towns and settlements along the river basin

Infrastructure

The Beris Dam, which was completed in 2004 at a cost of RM360 million, is used to regulate the flow of water along the Muda River basin to augment water available for irrigation of paddy or upland crops, for domestic and industrial water supply and other uses.

Climatology

The Muda River Basin received an annual precipitation of a year from 1985 to 2015. Mean monthly maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) temperature at the Ampangan Muda station ranged from and, respectively.[3]

Hydrology

During the monsoon season the rain can lead to heavy flooding. On 6 October 2003, the discharge at Landang Victoria River gauging station was 1340 m3/s.[4]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Design Option of the Flood Mitigation Plan of Sg. Muda, Sungai Muda, Kedah . 6 March 2014 . Pierre Y. Julien . Aminuddin Ab. Ghani . September 2006 . Pusat Penyelidikan Kejuruteraan Sungai dan Saliran Bandar . Nor Azazi Zakaria . Rozi Abdullah . Chang Chun Kiat . Rosmaliza Ramli . Joseph Dinor . Asnol Adzhan Abd. Manap . Mohd Fazly Yusof . https://web.archive.org/web/20150924000858/http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~pierre/ce_old/Projects/linkfiles/Muda%20Report.pdf . 24 September 2015 . Draft final report.
  2. A Background Study: Economic Benefits of the Muda Water Catchment . Lee . K. F. . June 2009 . World Wide Fund for Nature . 6 March 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140306144622/http://awsassets.wwf.org.my/downloads/economic_benefits_of_the_muda_water_catchment.pdf . 6 March 2014.
  3. Tan . Mou Leong . Samat . Narimah . Chan . Ngai Weng . Lee . Anisah Jessica . Li . Cheng . 2019 . Analysis of Precipitation and Temperature Extremes over the Muda River Basin, Malaysia . Water . en . 11 . 2 . Article 283 . 10.3390/w11020283 . free.
  4. Julien . P. Y. . Ghani . A. Ab. . Zakaria . N. A. . Abdullah . R. . Chang . C. K. . 2010 . Case Study: Flood Mitigation of the Muda River, Malaysia . Journal of Hydraulic Engineering . en . 136 . 4 . 251–261 . 10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0000163 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140306142659/http://redac.eng.usm.my/html/publish/2010_02.pdf . 6 March 2014 . 6 March 2014.