The study area is in the state of penang, a small catchment some 60 km 2 in area. The Juru River system is categorised as one of the most polluted in the country. The river is either black from pollutants such as heavy metals, or green - a sign of eutrophication caused by untreated wastewater works discharges.
The study area is in the state of penang, a small catchment some 60 km 2 in area. The Juru River system is categorised as one of the most polluted in the country. The river is either black from pollutants such as heavy metals, or green - a sign of eutrophication caused by untreated wastewater works discharges.
The study area is in the state of penang, a small catchment some 60 km 2 in area. The Juru River system is categorised as one of the most polluted in the country. The river is either black from pollutants such as heavy metals, or green - a sign of eutrophication caused by untreated wastewater works discharges.
Assessi ng wat er qual i t y i n Mal aysi a I nfoWorks RS has been employed to develop a water quality model for the Juru River in Malaysia. The aim of the study was to define pollution levels in the river system and also to assess the impact of tides on pollution levels. Malaysia lies below Thailand in South East Asia, and the study area is in the state of Penang, a small catchment some 60 km 2 in area. The river has many names in its upper reaches it is called the Permatang Rawa, the middle reaches are the Rambai and downstream it is the Juru. The three major tributaries are the Ara, Kilang Ubi and Pasir. The total population of the basin is around 362,400, and the area is mainly home to industrial, residential and commercial activities. The Juru River system is categorised as one of the most polluted in the country, with its reaches falling within categories four and five of the Malaysian Department of Environments water quality index which looks at the traditional parameters of ammoniacal nitrogen, BOD, COD, dissolved oxygen (DO), total suspended solids (TSS) and pH. The river is extremely polluted in colour it is either black from pollutants such as heavy metals (actually it is from untreated industrial and domestic waste), or green a sign of eutrophication caused by untreated wastewater works discharges. Located downstream are vulnerable shell fisheries. The first part of the project involved data collection including water quality samples to be input to the model for calibration. The three stages of the project were the calibration of the hydrodynamic and water quality elements of the model (with river level and pollution data respectively) and the subsequent analysis of the results which is still in its early stages. At the sampling locations, samples were taken every three hours for three days, with 28 further samples taken at various locations to represent the overall catchment contribution. InfoWorks RS v7.5 was the solution chosen for the analysis. Into this was input the river cross-section data, the inflows from tributaries and also tidal data provided by the countrys navy. The model covers some 20 km and two main tributaries. A comparison was made of the observed and simulated water levels at the most downstream sampling point, which showed that this stretch was heavily influenced by the tide. The simulation results correlate well in many areas with the observed tidal levels. Calibration is the most challenging part of this project, Water & Wastewater Asia March/April 2008 23 APPLICATION MONITOR and the water quality element is still under way. There is a great deal of tidal influence, particularly on DO levels, which is complex to represent. As suggested, the oxygen levels are probably related to the cycle of eutrophication, and the National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM) is still working on how to represent this in the model. At a second location, DO, BOD, ammoniacal nitrogen and COD levels were acquired and calibrated. Once the organisation was satisfied with the calibration, it examined various scenarios. The first involved looking at the results of improving the river to Class 1 at that point, the second and third involved ensuring clean inputs at various points. These improvements were selected to test the impact of improving the standard of effluent treatment at differing location throughout the catchment. The results were then observed at four locations. In scenario one, when the water quality parameters were improved to Class 1 in the Permatang Rawa section of the river, there was an improvement immediately downstream of the input point, but at the point furthest downstream there was little change to the DO levels or BOD, ammoniacal nitrogen and nitrate levels. In scenario two, in which the Ara tributary was improved, there was a difference to the flows but little impact on the downstream part of the river system. In scenario three, the input from the Kilang Ubi tributary was i mproved. Here, there was some i mprovement upstream of the confluence. It was also observed that during low tide, pollution would push further downstream and at high tide it would return upstream of the confluence and into the river system. This element has to be looked at in future in more detail. Mr Hassan said: To date, the modelling has proved the value of using the InfoWorks RS model to study the behaviour of pollution in tidal areas. With this information it will now be possible to move on to finding a strategic method for solving the pollution problem in the Juru River. WWA Enquiry No: 003 This case study is written by: Mr Norbaya Hashim, a researcher at the National Hydraulic Research Institute Malaysia.