mbbs14gg: Day 13

Water Treatment and Water supply in Kuala Muda District

We were welcomed by Mr. Zaini and Mr. Kamaruddin this morning in an 'Meeting Room' like place were we begun our topic of the day without further ado.

Water supply and water treatment in Kuala Muda district is managed by 2 units; namely Pejabat Kesihatan Daerah(PKD) and BAKAS(Bekalan Air & Kebersihan Alam Sekitar). While the focus of PKD lies mainly in the urban area, BAKAS manages the water supply and sullage disposals in the rural area.

There are seven water plants supplying water for Kuala Muda District and they are located at:

Pinah Tuggal
Sungai Petani
Kulim High Tech
Tupah
Merbok
Gurun
Jeniang
Bukit Selambau

I seriously don't know how I ended up listing 8 places but there should only be 7 plants. Each of these plants are then divided to 4 course to be supplied to respective areas.

Water treatment steps:

Water from source is first passed through aeration to be rid of odor.

The water is then passed through a flocculation tank, that was much describe like a maze. At this stage aluminium is introduced into the water. The mud in the water forms sediment at the bottom by the action of the aluminium. Was attains clear colour.(reduced turbidity)

Towards the end of the flocculation tank, water speed reduces allowing sedimentation.

The water is then passed through filter tank that is made of sand. This allows for further mud clearance from water.

the waster is then passed to clear tank where chlorine(kill microbes), fluoride(for good teeth) and calcium carbonate(to increase pH) is added

Then the water is passed to another tank where the water sits for a minimum of 45 minutes to allow residue free water

Lastly the water is sent to a reservoir and supplied to consumers

The maintenance of the treatment plant is carried out as and when required depending on the dirt burden. The plant needs more frequent cleaning on a rainy whether as compared to dry whether. For an eg : The filter tank is cleaned every 70hrs on the average.

This finally available water is nevertheless not readily drinkable. Consumers are thus advised to boil the water before consumption. Further more the path of the water from the plant to the consumer may be the cause of impurities in the water.(i.e. pipe may be broken and also store residual mud from water supply). The pipes are galvanized iron that does not rust. But there can be corrosive action by the chlorine in the water.

National Drinking Water Surveillance

Quality of drinking water are under constant surveillance based on specifications and guidelines by WHO. The parameters looked for are:

microorganism(weekly)
physical

pH
turbidity
temperature

3. chemical(monthly)

4. pesticides(quarterly)

5. heavy metals (monthly)

Water Sample Collection For Surveillance

A water collection point is prefixed by SADA for collection of water sample for surveillance. Water of inspection of surveillance is collected only from this collection point.

the tap is turned on and water is allowed to run for 1-2 minutes
the physical readings are taken
then the tap is turned off
the tap outlet is burnt/heated up to kill microbes from the environment
then 100ml of water is taken for microbial sampling
the water collection bag contains sodium disulphate that neutralizes the chlorine
the sample is sent for investigation within 24hrs for microbial study

The samples are sent to Jabatan Kimia(Chemical Department) in Penang and Alor Setar

Water collection point

Burning of the tap and taking physical readings

Bag to place water sample

BAKAS(Bekalan Air & Kebersihan Alam Sekitar)

The focus of BAKAS is mainly rural area. Their Objectives are to increase the health status of the people in rural areas and to promote good environmental health. They also target to reduce the incidence of communicable disease.

Activities carried out: