NPS MODELING OF SUNGAI PINANG CATCHMENT AREA & WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENT BY USING BIORETENTION

One of the major problems facing the Department of Environment nowadays is the
pollution of rivers with suspended solid coming from non-point source pollution in
urban areas. This project is related to the improvement of water quality inside the
river by applying the bioretention before the runoff from construction areas enters the
river. It will involve the quality modeling by using specific software that was
developed in Australia called the Model of Urban Stormwater Improvement
Conceptualization (MUSIC) in order to predict the percentage removal ofTSS (Total
Suspended Solid), TN (Total Nitrogen) and TP (Total Phosphorus). The other
methods involved in this project which are data gathering, construct the physical
model ofbioretention, laboratory and data analysis. From the predicted and
laboratory analysis, bioretention can removes about 80-90% of TN, 80-85% ofTSS,
and 70%-83% ofTP. The laboratory model was tested under Malaysia condition
using soil in Seri Iskandar area The testing was based on column studies representing
bioretention to improve the water quality of a stream in UTP campus. The predicted
model represents the water quality of Sungai Pi nang in Penang. The performance of
the laboratory model was comparable to the predicted model but the performance of
laboratory model was slightly lower probably due to acclimatization period. The
bioretention should be acclimatizing at least two months in order to achieve the good
results.