Water resources are important for living beings. Basically, water resources can be easily obtained from rivers. Only clean water is used to ensure continued survival. Due to rapid development, a majority of rivers are believed to be polluted. Therefore, this research study is conducted to analyze and detect the water quality using chemical parameter in Malacca River. There are 9 stations being chosen for sampling area, and every station is the joint between small rivers and main rivers or extensive land-use without control. The analysis used in this research study is based on chemical parameters (DO, BOD, COD, pH, and NH3-NL) and calculation are based on the year of 2012, and the data are received from DoE, Malaysia. The results show that water quality for pH is in the range of classes 1 and 2, while that of DO and COD is in classes 2 and 3, BOD in class 3 to 4, and NH3-NL within class 4 and 5. There are several human activities that cause water pollution in the Malacca River, such as agricultural and livestock activities,factories activities, commercial activities, and settlement activities. Finally, local citizens and state governments should work together in protecting and saving the Malacca River from being destroyed forever.
Keywords: Water resources, clean water, survival, rapid development, chemical parameters
Citation of Article:
Hua, A.K., & Kusin, F.M. (2015). A Review in Analysis and Detection of Water Quality Parameters in Malacca River. Case Study: A Preliminary Finding. International Conference on Environmental Forensics 2015 (iENFORCE2015). unpublished work.
Introduction
Water is a natural resource necessary for all living beings. Water resources are essential to carry out activities such as drinking, bathing, washing, and so on. Water resources are made available throughout two sources, which is the earth’s surface (sea, river, mines, lakes), and the underground. However, such a quantity of water resources is quite difficult to access for most types of life. Therefore, water resources that can be used totally depend on the water flowing over the earth surface, especially river [1]. However, the quality of water resources can be divided into several types, namely high, good, moderate, poor, and bad. The only type of source that can be used for survival is clean water, which is at least good water quality [2]. World statistics show that the rate of water pollution has doubled compared to the ‘production’ of good quality water resources in the river [11,6]. This may occur due to various factors such as rapid development (e.g. factories) [3], population increase (e.g. increase in the quantity of residual waste) [9], environmental impact (e.g. landslides) [7], and so on. So, this is particularly important in identifying the main causes that contribute to water pollution in rivers.
Malacca is a famous tourist attraction in Malaysia which is rich with heritage cultural and historical buildings, which lead to its recognition as a Historical City by UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 07, 2008 [10]. This recognition led to the importance of Malacca River to be developed and become one of the tourist activity attractions in Malacca state. According to history, Malacca River has served as water transport connecting the people in rural and urban areas [8]. This condition has resulted in the settlement of Malacca citizens along the river. As time progressed, rapid development has occurred in Malacca. Today, most of the settlements, manufacturing activities, agriculture activities, and livestock activities are carried out near to river. The main factor to cause this happen is that water resources from the river are easy to access. However, without realizing it, the activities carried out by human have affected the river water quality and caused water pollution to become rampant. The state government has taken some actions such as law enforcement, policies for water resources, exposure through religious and moral education, and public awareness about the importance of the environment, especially water resources in the river. However, the implementation of such projects to preserve river water quality by state government still could not change the percentage of water pollution to lower level, but this problem still persists even up to a higher level that become more dangerous. Therefore, this research study has been carried out to identify the main areas and factors that can possibility contribute to water pollution.
Methodology
The sampling area for this research study was along the Malacca River. The length of the river is 42 kilometers [5]. According to the Department of Environment, Malaysia, there are 9 stations placed along Malacca River to collect river water sample (figure 1), which using the data for year 2012 provided by Department of Environment, Malaysia. The method used to collect river water sample was ‘grab sampling’ [4], as the information provided will be more precise and accurate. Determination in the selection of each station refers to a joint between a small river and the main river, or extensive land-use area for particular activities. This includes where river water flows from upstream to downstream or from a high area to a low area. Therefore, the selection of each station is suitably chosen because it will provide information about real status and level of water quality in Malacca River. In addition, the parameters used to evaluate the water quality of Malacca River include chemical parameters such as Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), a measurement of acidic and based solution (pH), and Ammonia Nitrate (NH3-NL). Chemical parameters have been used in this research study, because any mixture of impurities with clean water will change the water characteristics and cause water pollution to occur.
Water is a natural resource necessary for all living beings. Water resources are essential to carry out activities such as drinking, bathing, washing, and so on. Water resources are made available throughout two sources, which is the earth’s surface (sea, river, mines, lakes), and the underground. However, such a quantity of water resources is quite difficult to access for most types of life. Therefore, water resources that can be used totally depend on the water flowing over the earth surface, especially river [1]. However, the quality of water resources can be divided into several types, namely high, good, moderate, poor, and bad. The only type of source that can be used for survival is clean water, which is at least good water quality [2]. World statistics show that the rate of water pollution has doubled compared to the ‘production’ of good quality water resources in the river [11,6]. This may occur due to various factors such as rapid development (e.g. factories) [3], population increase (e.g. increase in the quantity of residual waste) [9], environmental impact (e.g. landslides) [7], and so on. So, this is particularly important in identifying the main causes that contribute to water pollution in rivers.
Malacca is a famous tourist attraction in Malaysia which is rich with heritage cultural and historical buildings, which lead to its recognition as a Historical City by UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 07, 2008 [10]. This recognition led to the importance of Malacca River to be developed and become one of the tourist activity attractions in Malacca state. According to history, Malacca River has served as water transport connecting the people in rural and urban areas [8]. This condition has resulted in the settlement of Malacca citizens along the river. As time progressed, rapid development has occurred in Malacca. Today, most of the settlements, manufacturing activities, agriculture activities, and livestock activities are carried out near to river. The main factor to cause this happen is that water resources from the river are easy to access. However, without realizing it, the activities carried out by human have affected the river water quality and caused water pollution to become rampant. The state government has taken some actions such as law enforcement, policies for water resources, exposure through religious and moral education, and public awareness about the importance of the environment, especially water resources in the river. However, the implementation of such projects to preserve river water quality by state government still could not change the percentage of water pollution to lower level, but this problem still persists even up to a higher level that become more dangerous. Therefore, this research study has been carried out to identify the main areas and factors that can possibility contribute to water pollution.
Methodology
The sampling area for this research study was along the Malacca River. The length of the river is 42 kilometers [5]. According to the Department of Environment, Malaysia, there are 9 stations placed along Malacca River to collect river water sample (figure 1), which using the data for year 2012 provided by Department of Environment, Malaysia. The method used to collect river water sample was ‘grab sampling’ [4], as the information provided will be more precise and accurate. Determination in the selection of each station refers to a joint between a small river and the main river, or extensive land-use area for particular activities. This includes where river water flows from upstream to downstream or from a high area to a low area. Therefore, the selection of each station is suitably chosen because it will provide information about real status and level of water quality in Malacca River. In addition, the parameters used to evaluate the water quality of Malacca River include chemical parameters such as Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), a measurement of acidic and based solution (pH), and Ammonia Nitrate (NH3-NL). Chemical parameters have been used in this research study, because any mixture of impurities with clean water will change the water characteristics and cause water pollution to occur.
Result and Discussion
Analysis of this research study has been based on the Malaysian Environmental Quality Report 2012. A formula will be used to calculate the chemical parameter in water quality. According to the table 1, analysis of chemical parameters has shown significantly differences between upstream, middle stream, and downstream of the river. Analysis parameters of DO increase continuously; the water is slightly polluted from station 1 to station 6 at class 2, and increases from station 7 to station 9 to class 3. Secondly, the parameters of BOD and COD are showed a slightly decline in the middle stream, but the value increases downstream of the Malacca River. For example, the BOD value in stations 1 to 3 is class 4, and decreases at station 4 to 7 to class 3, and increases again at stations 8 to 9 to class 4; Meanwhile the COD value from stations 1 to 3 is class 3, decreasing to class 2 at stations 4 to 7, and increasing at stations 8 to 9 to class 3. However, the pH and NH3-NL values do not show any changes in the water quality value, remaining at class 1 for pH and class 5 for NH3-NL.
The main factor that causes water pollution of river to occur is human activity carried out without control, and most of these activities occur near to the Malacca River. For example, most Malacca citizens stay near the Malacca River with the aim of obtaining water resources easily from the river. Since the accessibility of water resources from the river is easily, this situation had led to the development of activities such as agriculture and livestock. When human activities are conducted without following the rules set by state government (for example agriculture and livestock activities, factories activities, commercial activities, settlement activities), then this situation will result the river pollution to occurs, as shown in the results in Table 1. The majority area causing river pollution to occur are upstream and downstream areas of the river. However, the middle stream showed a small improvement in terms of water quality value, such as DO, BOD, and COD parameters. The only unchangeable water quality value is pH and NH3-NL. The main reason for this to happen is the development of land-use is continuously uncontrolled especially adjacent to river, for example agriculture, livestock, and settlements activities in the upstream areas; settlement activities in the middle stream river areas; and factories, commercial, and settlement activities at downstream river (figure 1). This may be attributed to the attitude of people that do not comply with the rules and feel no responsibility to the environment, dumping chemical waste directly into the river. River water quality becomes worse when it flows downstream because the area is highly developed within urban areas. The rapid development and extensive land-use in urban areas cause the area to become compact, while various commercial activities are carried out. Hence, liquid and solid are more likely to end up in the river and increase water pollution, as may be proven by analysis shown in Table 1. So, if the local citizens or the state government do not take any action and work together, then the Malacca River will be one of the rivers listed as a polluted river due to the human activities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this review study has shown that the Malacca River is slightly polluted. As a result, the water quality status for DO is within classes 2 and 3, BOD is in class 3 and 4, COD is in classes 2 and 3, pH is in classes 1 and 2, and NH3-NL is in classes 4 and 5. There are several human activities that cause water pollution in Malacca River, such as agricultural and livestock activities, factories activities, commercial activities, and settlement activities. As general, water quality in Malacca River is currently at a dangerous level, and if the activities that contribute to pollution continues to happen, then the Malacca River will be more polluted. This situation will affect tourism activities and affect the economy of the country.
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