KOTA BARU: There have been five major water disruption incidents in the Klang Valley this year because of pollution to the river which supplies raw water to the treatment plants.
The latest disruption, which occurred early last month, lasted for four days and affected up to 1.2 million water accounts in the Klang Valley.
Pollution from industrial waste spilled into the river and towards the intake of the water treatment plant.
These incidents could have been avoided if the water operator or the relevant authority received an early warning or signal when the river is polluted above the allowed limit, enabling them to shut the water intake gate or pump and save the treatment plant, thus avoiding water disruption.
This lack of early detection can cause severe problems to the water supply ecosystem.
According to Associate Professor Dr Wan Mohd Faizal Wan Ishak from the Faculty of Bioengineering and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, early detection is a very important mechanism for the local authorities.
"Early detection could be in the form of round-the-clock surveillance, CCTV monitoring, sensor-based equipment and sensor-based plus chemical reaction process analysis unit. All these methods need to send a signal or warning to the control station when anything unusual happens at site."
"Human-based surveillance is difficult to manage and involves a high manpower cost. Some parameters cannot be detected by naked eye, and sampling and laboratory analysis takes a few days to conclude the outcome of the pollution," he said.
"CCTV monitoring is only able to monitor water levels and physical changes such as colour of the water, and cannot detect any chemical changes to the water, while sensor-based equipment is only limited to few water quality parameters such as pH, temperature, turbidity, and electric conductivity.
In severe turbidity conditions and mud distraction, the reading of the meter will be inaccurate," added Prof Wan Mohd Faizal.
Prof Wan Mohd Faizal and his team are undertaking a pilot project called River Watcher which aims to provide an early detection system using an all-in-one automated water quality analyser.
This Lab On Chip (LOC)-based technology analyser is capable of measuring 14 water quality parameters such as biological oxygen demand (BOD), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphate (TP), dissolved oxygen content (DOC), ammoniacal nitrogen , nitrate nitrogen and phosphate, water temperature, pH, electric conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and others, in real time.
The system can also record automatic measurements set for every five, 30 or 60 minutes.
The system was developed by the University of Seoul, South Korea and has been tested and successfully implemented in South Korea, where water pollution and water disruptions are now a thing of the past.
LOC technology, which is incorporated in the instrument, focuses on the development of hybrid devices, which integrate fluidic and electronic components onto the same small board. They are devoted primarily to liquid sample testing and handling.
"Water samples from the river will be pumped and filtered, and analysed on site and within minutes the data will be transferred to the control room or information centre.
"An alarm will be activated when there is a variation from quality parameters detected. Real-time data, together with quick action from the water operator will help to prevent a major disaster from happening,".
Prof Wan Mohd Faizal said this technology can be used to monitor real-time water quality information for rivers (including lakes), agricultural lakes, combined sewage overflows, sewage treatment plant effluents and more.
In order to obtain an optimum result and adapt with local conditions, the devices needed to undergo some modification and fine-tuning to local water conditions.
After a year of testing and fine-tuning of the device, Prof Wan Mohd Faizal said they were now ready to work with water operators, local authorities as well as factories who can use this system to monitor water quality or even monitor the level of effluents released.
UMK conducted the pilot project for the testing of this device in Sungai Galing, Pahang, in collaboration with the Department of Drainage and Irrigation.
The goal for this pilot project was to identify the causes of pollution and develop a Water Quality Control Action Plan for Sungai Galing, which was among the most polluted rivers in the country 10 years ago.