On the 28th of October 2022 at SJKC Chong Cheng, Water Watch Penang (WWP) hosted two sessions (morning and afternoon) on Negalitres for Schools River and Water Awareness Educational programmes lead by Dr Hong Chern Wern and facilitated by Ms Ong Ke Shin and Mr Ooi Che Khai. The educational programmes are attended by a total of 729 students from Standard 4, 5, and 6, and 60 teachers during the morning session, and 911 students from Standard 1,2, and 3, and 42 teachers during the afternoon session respectively. This programme involved the greatest number of student participants to date.
The executive manager of Water Watch Penang, Dr Hong Chern Wern, gave a brief introduction about Water Watch Penang’s educational programme. This is followed by facilitation by Mr Ooi Che Khai who educated and discussed about the local, national and global river water challenges by showing some related photos to the students for better understanding in order to increase the student’s appreciation for the low water cost and adequate supply of clean water in Penang,
The students were then educated about the physical, chemical, and biological evaluations of a river by Ms Ong Ke Shin, a qualified facilitator from WWP. Numerous water quality parameters including odour, temperature, turbidity, pH, and the levels of phosphate, nitrite, and ammonia in the river are introduced to the students to get more information and knowledge about water quality determination. Photos of various microinvertebrates including shrimps, mayfly nymphs, stonefly nymphs and leeches that live in rivers of different qualities have also been introduced to the students.
In the final section, Mr Ooi Che Khai emphasised various water-saving methods that can be applied by the students in their houses to prevent water waste for both financial and environmental reasons. PBAPP video on water saving was also played for the students to understand more about water saving and the current PBAPP water-conservation planning. Before ending the talk, Che Khai also taught the students to calculate their daily water usage per capita. Those who received 250 litres of water and above were considered wasteful consumers of water and they need to consider some application of water-saving methods in their houses.
Water Watch Penang would like to thank SJKC Chong Cheng for the active participation by the students and teachers. This programme is brought to you by CLEAN International dan Intel Corporation, coordinated by Water Watch Penang in partnership and supported by PBAPP, Penang Green Council, and Green Educator’s Workgroup.
