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There is national concern about rivers pollution degree. The Malaysian Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) is running a project for river biological purification using biomedia to reduce the river pollution degree. This study aims to use different types of biomedia carrier for effective management of the river purification plant project. Water samples were collected and tested for various essential parameters. A biomedia laboratory setup was fabricated for the research with seven different types of biomedia, and water sampling was collected daily and weekly for analysis purposes. The experimental results show that the best removal efficiency was achieved by biomedia Type 1 and was 88% and 65.5% for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), respectively. Followed by biomedia Type 3 achieved an average of 58 percentage for ammonia (NH3-N) removal. Overall, the best removal efficiency performance of biomedia Type 1 achieved the calculated rate of 68 %. The cleanest effluent was biomedia Type 4. For accumulated biofilm formation, the highest total volatile solid (TVS) was the biomedia Type 4. Finally, the best inclusive performance is biomedia Type 1. Future studies are recommended to conduct a pilot scale study with a longer time frame and to study these selective types of biomedia in anaerobic and anoxic condition.

Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) systems have been proven as an effective technology for water treatment and have been used for Biochemical Oxygen Demand/Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD/COD-removal), as well as for nitrification and denitrification in municipal and industrial wastewater treatment. Conventional Activated Sludge (CAS), in particular, has been extensively used in wastewater treatment since decades ago. In this study, physical performance results for both MBBR and CAS were compared and evaluated on laboratory scale basis. The study aims to identify the best system performance in terms of constituent removal efficiency for effective management of the river purification plant. A novel parallel MBBR and CAS pilot plant were fabricated and operated to compare the physical performance of MBBR and CAS. Analysis of the performances for MBBR and CAS show, MBBR has higher COD (85%), AN (75%) and TSS (80%) removal rate compared to CAS COD (53%), AN (53%) and TSS (69%). For BOD removal rate, CAS shows 68% removal rate whereas MBBR shows only 65%. Thus CAS has shown slightly higher removal rate than MBBR. In terms of sludge production, MBBR sludge is less than CAS. Overall performance proves that MBBR has better rate of constituent removal efficiency compared to CAS in the laboratory basis study.

In the agricultural sector, fertilizer and animal waste are main pollutants to water course. Excessive phosphorus in water bodies may increase the growth of algae and aquatic plant in a pond which leads to eutrophication phenomena. Disposal of alum sludge in landfills can lead to contaminant issues thus, researchers are searching for ways to reduce excessive disposal of waste including alum sludge in landfills. This study provides available options in disposing alum sludge. In this study, continuous column tests were conducted with different initial pH and contact initial phosphate concentrations. The Scanning Electron Microscope indicates that rough alum sludge surface will accelerate the phosphate adsorption rate. This result shows that phosphate removal rate is higher in acidic condition but lower in alkaline condition. In wastewater treatment industries, changing wastewater to pH 4 needs a large amount of chemical additive and suggests that the pH 7 ±0.5 is more suitable in wastewater applications.

Land use change in urbanizing watersheds can have a significant impact on hydrologic and hydraulic process as well a degradation of water quality on receiving waters. The Bio-Ecological Drainage System (BIOECODS) consists of elements of storage, flow retarding and infiltration engineering. Swales, dry ponds, detention ponds and wetland are the main components of BIOECODS that function as flow attenuation and water quality treatment devices. The BIOECODS is a pilot project that meets the requirements of the Stormwater Management Manual for Malaysia and has been constructed at the Engineering Campus of the University Science Malaysia, Nibong Tebal, Penang. BIOECODS represents an alternative to the traditional hard engineering-based drainage system to manage stormwater quantity and quality for urban areas.This article discusses how the BIOECODS could be implemented to control stormwater quantity from an urbanized area and reduce the water quality impact on the receiving water.