Visit by Prof. Vethamony from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa, India

We recently had the pleasure of a visit by Prof. Vethamony from NIO, India who is a specialist in coastal wave processes. His PhD student, Mr. Renjith, was attached to myself a few months ago, to learn dynamic water quality modeling. The visit by Prof. Vethamony this time round, is to formally initiate collaborative ties between BERU, IIUM and NIO. Prior to arriving in IIUM, Prof. Vethamony was in NUS for a good two weeks.

Water quality modeling of course, is one of the key areas for collaboration and we've identified other good potential areas as well. Myself, Prof. Vethamony and Mr. Renjith are now working together to develop a water quality model for the west-coast of India. Whilst in IIUM, Prof. Vethamony was kind enough to give a couple of lectures on coastal modeling and on research opportunities at NIO.

Further to our research collaboration, Prof. has invited me to visit NIO, which I will probably do sometime next year. They say Goa is a really beautiful place :-)

National River Water Quality Monitoring Seminar

Alas, attached are some pics from the ASMA/DOE River Water Quality Monitoring Seminar, held about two weeks ago at Heritage Hotel, in Ipoh, Perak. Attendees were mostly very senior Department of Environment (DOE) officers, from all over the country (almost every state), including the Director of the Marine and River Water Quality Unit, Tn. Hj. Hashim Daud. Besides, myself, three other distinguished speakers also gave talks at the seminar, including Prof. Dr. Maketab Mohamed (UTM), Dr. Abdul Rani Abdullah (VP of PiCorp) and Mr. Ardi Bakhtiar (Manager of ASMA WQ Dept.). It was a very interactive session, as the attendees posed many technical and scientific questions; we were more than happy to share whatever humble knowledge that we had.

Tn. Hj. Hashim address the participants - Day 1

Participants - Day 1

Dr. Rani giving his lecture - Day 1

Prof. Maketab giving his lecture - Day 1

My lecture (backshot) - Day 2, beginning of the seminar

My session again - Day 2, towards the end.....

(yes, jacket is off again, for mobility :-))

Gift from DOE/ASMA - Day 2

Dr. Rani giving his lecture - Day 3

River Water Quality Modeling Workshop at ENSEARCH

Some pics from the recent water quality modeling workshop we conducted at the Environmental Management and Research Association of Malaysia (ENSEARCH). Participants mostly consisted of environmental consultants, engineers and researchers. Mr. Renjith, my attachment student from the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, India also attended the workshop. The first day of the workshop was conducted by Prof. Dr. Maketab Mohamed, focused mainly on QUAL2E, whereas I conducted the second day of the training on QUAL2K. Both of us has a pretty tight schedule that week, as Prof. Maketab had to attend a round table meeting with the Prime Minister in his capacity as MNS President, right after his session finished. I on the other hand was not around on the first day, giving a talk to senior DOE officers in Ipoh, Perak at the National River Water Quality Monitoring seminar (pics to come, hopefully) and the next day after this workshop, I had to be in Putrajaya assisting UTM IBD at their MSc quality improvement program. I will be conducting another workshop on water quality parameters in September at ENSEARCH; watch out for it! Those who are interested to attend, kindly get in touch with the ENSEARCH secretariat.

Participants from various segments of the environmental industry

More Participants

Prof. Maketab with his signature smile :-)

Attentive participants listening to my talk on QUAL2K

(guy in the last row, green shirt is Renjith; all the way from NIO, India to learn modeling)

My jacket was off half way through the workshop (on the chair); for mobility's sake, needed to rid as much weight off my shoulders as possible :-)

Training on Water Quality Modeling (2 Days) @ the Environmental Management and Research Association of Malaysia (ENSEARCH)

For more info, click here. ENSEARCH website : http://ensearch.org.

SYNOPSIS

The Enhanced Stream Water Quality Model (QUAL2E) is applicable to well mixed, dendritic streams. It simulates major reactions of nutrient cycles, algae production, benthic and carbonaceous demand, atmospheric reaeration and their effects on dissolved oxygen balance. Besides developing total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), it can also be used in conjunction with field sampling for identifying the magnitude and quality characteristics of non point sources.

QUAL2K (or Q2K) is a river and stream water quality model that is intended to represent a modernized version of the QUAL2E model (Brown and Barnwell 1987). QUAL2K is now implemented within the Microsoft Windows environment. It is programmed in the Windows macro language: Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Excel is used as the graphical user interface.

Please bring your laptops with Windows Operating System

TRAINERS :

Ir. ZAKI ZAINUDIN

B.Eng. (Chem.), CEnv. (UK), M.Sc. (Env. Eng.), P.Eng. (Chem.)

Registered EIA Subject Consultant

Dr. MAKETAB MOHAMED

BSc. (Microbiology), M.Sc. (Env. Health), Ph.D. (Watershed Science)

ABOUT THE TRAINERS :

Ir. Zaki Zainudin is an Academic Fellow at the Bioenvironmental Engineering Research Unit (BERU), Kulliyyah of Engineering, IIUM. He is a member of the International Water Association, Watershed and River Basin Management Specialist Group and also serves as a management committee member of the Water Resources Technical Division, Institution of Engineers Malaysia. Ir. Zaki is a renowned environmental consultant with vast experience and expertise in the area of water quality assessment and modeling, having led and played key roles in numerous environmental projects, including monitoring exercises, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and special stand-alone environmental studies nationwide. He has conducted various workshops and talks on water quality and modeling at both local and international venues and is often a source of reference for various organizations on surface water quality management, such as being an expert panelist for government and private organizations.

Dr. Maketab Mohamed is a well-respected environmental figure in Malaysia and is currently Director of the Environmental, Occupational, Health and Safety unit in UTM, Skudai. He is often a source of reference for various parties involved in environmental management and conservation such as the Department of Environment (DOE) and AlamSekitar Malaysia (ASMA). Being a certified EIA Consultant, Dr. Maketab has contributed his services in many development projects, namely in the composition of numerous EIA reports, participated and written close to 50 papers presented at various seminars and conferences, as well as conducting numerous pro-bono community services. His primary areas of interest and expertise include water quality assessment, river water quality modeling, watershed rehabilitation, ecological analysis, and morphology. He is also currently the President of the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS).

Killer landslide hits Hulu Langat orphanage

From The Star Online :

KAJANG: A landslide hit an orphanage Saturday afternoon killing 13 and leaving three still buried.

Firemen and villagers managed to pull out nine soon after the landslide hit Rumah Anak Yatim Hidayah, Madrasah Al-Takwa, Jalan Felcra Semungkus, 14th mile, Hulu Langat, near Kajang at 2.30pm.

At 10.45pm, a boy was pulled out alive after being buried for over eight hours.

Rescuers rushing one of the injured children to the ward at Ampang Hospital

The dead and alive have been sent to the Ampang and Kajang Hospitals.

"Two landslides occurred simultaneously. All the victims did not have time to escape," said Selangor CPO Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah at a press conference at 6.45pm.

A total of 49 students and caretakers were there but 24 escaped unhurt.

The back portion of the orphanage where the landslide occurred

The orphanage was partially buried by the landslides at about 2.30pm on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Deputy IGP Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said that rescuers were being hampered by wet soil and rain.

He also appealed to the crowd of onlookers to stay back and allow the rescuers to do their work unimpeded.

Bernama reported that in ALOR GAJAH, Malacca, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalildirected the Social Welfare Department and the 'Skuad Sayang' (Caring Squad) to provide immediate assistance to the orphans and family of the victims.

"I will get in touch with the police to obtain detailed information and the actual cause of the landslide so that my ministry can take follow-up action to assist the victms," she said.

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For the first time in a very long time I am speechless. I feel sick to be part of a society/system that allows development of an orphanage on a hill-side which is susceptible to land-slides. MARK MY WORDS : THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO POINT FOR US TO HAVE THE LONGEST, LARGEST, BIGGEST, TALLEST..... BUILDING, BRIDGE OR WHATEVER IF WE ARE GOING TO PUT THE LIVES INNOCENT CHILDREN, ORPHAN CHILDREN AT RISK...... ALL OF OUR PROGRESS..... DEVELOPMENT...... SUCCESSES COUNT FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.....

Intel Wastewater Treatment Course

Myself and Tengku Fazli Tengku Yahya (of MICET, UniKL) was recently invited by UTM's Chemical Engineering Pilot Plant (CEPP) to conduct a workshop on Wastewater Treatment Technology for Intel Corporation Execs. @ Intel-U, in Penang. The workshop was held between the 29th - 30th November 2010. I would say that the overall event was a success, with active participation from the attendees.

I would like to thank CEPP and Intel Corp. for having us and hope you found whatever knowledge that we shared interesting and useful.

Two-Day Exhibition cum Forum and Technical Talks on,Water and Industrialized Building System (IBS) - 8 to 9th December 2010

The Institution of Engineers Malaysia, is organizing a 2 day exhibition on Water and Industrialized Building System (IBS), this 8 - 9th December, 2010. Click here to download the brochure.

Benchmarking River Water Quality In Malaysia (IEM Jurutera)

Click here to download full article.

ANNOUNCEMENT ! 12th IWA International Specialised Conference on Watershed & River Basin Management, 14 - 16 September 2011, Recife, Brazil

Integrated River Basin Management and Climate Changes are important issues for the future of our planet. IWA presents a very special opportunity to engage in 3 days of innovative discussion on the subjects of River Basin Management Planning, Water Resource Management, Climate Change, Water Supply Protection, Governance Methods, Flood Control & Decision Support System.

Join other experts in exchanging ideas and exploring networking opportunities during the IWA Watershed and River Basin Management Conference, 14 – 16 September 2011 in the littoral tropical city of Recife, Brazil.

FOR FURTHER INFO. CLICK HERE OR DOWNLOAD CALL FOR PAPERS HERE.

Drains are not bins

Article below is from the Straits Times, Singapore (11 May 2010)

By Victoria Vaughan

PUB's eye-catching stickers bring home the message - drains lead to reservoirs. -- ST PHOTO: MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN

DESPITE harsher penalties and numerous anti-littering campaigns, 14 tonnes of rubbish - equal to the weight of 10 cars - ends up in Singapore's drains every day.

A cigarette butt thrown into a drain in Bishan, for example, can travel 10km to the Marina Bay reservoir, which, by the end of the year, will provide 10 per cent of the Republic's water.

This is the message that colourful campaign stickers placed on 49 drains across Singapore hope to spread - the drains beneath your feet lead to reservoirs, so don't use them as bins.

PUB, the national water agency, launched the Wonderful World of Water yesterday, with stickers being placed on and around drains in Tampines, Bishan, Jurong and the Environment Building at Newton, as a pilot project to get reactions from the public prior to launching an art competition for drain covers on May 21.

Every year, more than 5,000 tonnes of rubbish are collected from the 32 rivers and 7,000km of drains in Singapore. It costs the PUB $4.5 million a year to clean up the Marina catchment area, which is the largest and most urbanised, covering approximately one-sixth of Singapore's land area.

This amount of litter, however, went down by a tonne last year compared with the previous year, and PUB believes it is due to the enforcement efforts of the National Environment Agency (NEA).

Cameron Highlands

We recently went to Cameron Highlands to conduct a water quality study of Sg. Rengil (main-stem) and Sg. Berok located near Lojing. The current water quality conditions were pristine with no apparent degradation occurring on the upstream reaches of both rivers. This was reflective of minimal anthropogenic activities taking place there-in, save perhaps an Orang Asli village located near the confluence point of both rivers. From visual observation alone one can hypothesize, that most water quality constituents should fall within the Class I designation of the INWQS. The Orang Asli here utilize the water source from both rivers for their daily necessities.

This condition however changed moving downstream, where agricultural activities become more predominant, resulting in heightened TSS and Turbidity levels. Sg. Belatop (shown below) is a good example, where even without precipitation and runoff effects, turbid water conditions were still apparent, due to land irrigation practices which transports SS into the water column. Interviews with the local village people indicated that Sg. Belatop at one time, used to be teaming with aquatic life; this condition however has since changed as can be seen from the photo and video below.

IWA YWP W & RBM SG Pre-Conference Workshop Pics

The Watershed and River Basin Management Specialist Group (W & RBM SG) recently co-organized a pre-conference workshop at this year's IWA Young Water Professionals (YWP) conference held at the Best Western Premier Seri Pacific Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between the 2 - 4 of Mac 2010. The workshop itself was conducted on the 1st of March 2010, with W & RBM SG being represented by its Management Committee member, Mr. Zaki Zainudin.

The workshop was entitled, "Transboundary Water Management Issues and Applications of River Water Quality Modelling In Integrated Catchment Management". Participants ranged from diversified backgrounds including academics, researchers, consultants, engineers, as well as government officials. Below are some photos taken during the event.