Water Watch Penang- PBAPP – USM Penang Inter-School Water Quiz 2009
14 November 2009
This project is carried out by Water Watch Penang with the help of funds from Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang and assistance of students from Universiti Sains Malaysia. This quiz is held in SK1, USM which has allowed the staging of the quiz without charge as part of USM’s community outreach.
Project Objectives:
- To increase awareness and education of the importance of river and water amongst youths in Penang State via monthly talks at schools followed by hands-on experience of river water monitoring and visiting water and wastewater treatment plants.
- To inculcate a sense of responsibility amongst school children in terms of the value of water, water use and the commitment to do something to protect water catchments, rivers and water resources, and to change people’s lifestyle from water wasting to water saving.
Project Summary:
Every month, a total of 30 students and two teachers (from a selected school) are given a talk on what is a water catchment, the importance of water catchments, the importance of conserving forests, monitoring and conserving rivers, water supply and wastewater treatment. They are taken to a river and taught how to monitor its cleanliness and water quality (river flow, pH, dissolved oxygen and suspended solids, and using biological indicators). The students also do a clean up (collect garbage etc) along the stream. Students are then taken on a hike along the stream inside the catchment where they will study about trees, plants and the river. This is followed by a visit to a water treatment plant where they learn about how water from rivers are abstracted and treated before being piped to houses. Towards the end of the project, selected schools which took part in the programme enter this inter-school water quiz (held today) on all the things the students have learnt.It has been a successful programme as we managed to reach out to 20 schools and more than 600 students and teachers. We hope our sponsors will continue supporting us in this programme next year. We also like to thank all our WWP Members who have helped, one way or another in this project. Thank you to USM also for allowing us to use this magnificent lecture hall. Thanks also to all others who have helped in one way or another. Today’s quiz is the climax to our 1 year project which started in January 2009. We hope that all the students from the 20 schools that took part have learnt something important about water and rivers. More importantly, we hope you will now be stewards of water and rivers, i.e. tell others (especially your brothers and sisters, parents, relatives and friends) about what you have learnt regarding the need to protect rivers and save water. Finally, we hope through this programme that you have learnt to love and treasure water, rivers and the environment. Please save water for our future, and may the best teams win. It is with great pleasure that I now declare this quiz officially open.
A total of 9 schools registered but two schools did not turn up. Hence, the schools that participated were:
- Methodist Girls School (two teams)
- SM Tunku Puan Habsah
- St George Girls School
- SMJK Phor Tay
- SM Bukit Jambul
- SM Air Itam
The Finalists were:
- Methodist Girls School (Team B)
- St George Girls School
- SM Bukit Jambul
- SMJK Phor Tay
The Final Winners were:
1st: SMJK Phor Tay
2nd: Methodist Girls School (Team B)
3rd: St. George Girls School
@Prof CHAN NGAI WENG
President, Water Watch Penang