On the morning of November 9th, 2024, Water Watch Penang held yet another river education programme in partnership with Salcon Engineering Berhad at Taman Rimba Bukit Kerinchi. The programme was held as a part of Salcon’s Smart Water Programme, an ongoing corporate social responsibility partnership with Water Watch Penang for its 14th year in a row. Located right at the heart of Kuala Lumpur’s hustle and bustle, the students of SM Sains Seri Puteri were given the oppportunity to immerse themselves in nature and learn about the environment through our river education programme.
The programme started off with an introductory talk by our Executive Manager, Dr. Hong Chern Wern, who introduced the students to local and international water issues to inspire awareness of how precious water is as a natural resource and how much we take it for granted in our daily lives. Many of the students were aware of the water issues locally, but did not realize the severity of it until they were shown pictures and news articles. Afterwards, the students were split up into groups and brought down to Sungai Kerinchi to do physical, chemical and biological assessments. Each group was given an information sheet to fill out to determine the quality of the river. Students learnt to observe the river for its physical characteristics such as river velocity and turbidity using a Secchi disk. Students also learnt how to conduct chemical testing using test kits and the significance behind each parameter tested. The facilitators on the other hand were Mr. Yee Jean Chai, Mr. Sharvind Sivan, Ms. Emily Wong, Ms. Kimberly, together with Education Officer, Ms. Nur Atiqah and Ms. Nur Fatin Azahara, assisted by intern from Xiamen University, Ms. Chan Yi Ying.
After an introduction into the various macroinvertebrates found in river ecosystems, the students were given nets and pans to capture the various macroinvertebrates they encountered. Several students found water stick insects and freshwater shrimp, but the smaller macroinvertebrates were hard to identify with the naked eye, thus the captured samples were placed under a light microscope for easier viewing. Through this method, we were able to identify some less commonly-seen macroinvertebrates, such as the Dobsonfly nymph and the flattened mayfly nymph.
A total of 40 students and 2 students attended this programme. Water Watch Penang would like to extend their appreciation to Salcon for their ongoing support through their corporate social responsibility programme.
For further inquiries, please contact us at info.waterwatchpenang@gmail.com or +6019-5751253.
