Pioneering Integrated and Innovative Sustainable Stormwater Design for Urban Water Resource Management in Malaysia
Description
Location
Sketch
Information about lithology/geochemistry:
The site consists of Quaternary deposits from the Gula Formation, including sand, silt, clay, gravel, and minor peat, formed in estuarine and shallow littoral environments.
Main Description
- The BIOECODS@USM is a sub-basin of the Kerian River, implementing sustainable urban stormwater management through ecohydrological principles.
- Constructed wetlands within BIOECODS enhance water quality via natural filtration, support biodiversity, and provide habitats for aquatic and bird species.
- The system includes wet ponds, detention ponds, and a recreational pond that store, treat, and attenuate stormwater while supporting aquatic life.
- The site enhances fresh water provision (harvesting), waste-water treatment, erosion prevention, recreation, and habitats for species. It maintains local climate regulation and genetic diversity.
Enhance ecohydrological processes in novel ecosystem
YES
Apply complementary Ecohydrological processes in high impacted system
YES
This table presents the different categories of ecosystem services that ecosystem can provide, divided in:
Provisioning Services are ecosystem services that describe the material or energy outputs from ecosystems. They include food, water and other resources.
Fresh water: Ecosystems play a vital role in the global hydrological cycle, as they regulate the flow and purification of water. Vegetation and forests influence the quantity of water available locally.
Regulating Services are the services that ecosystems provide by acting as regulators eg. regulating the quality of air and soil or by providing flood and disease control.
Waste-water treatment: Ecosystems such as wetlands filter both human and animal waste and act as a natural buffer to the surrounding environment. Through the biological activity of microorganisms in the soil, most waste is broken down. Thereby pathogens (disease causing microbes) are eliminated, and the level of nutrients and pollution is reduced.
Erosion prevention and maintenance of soil fertility: Soil erosion is a key factor in the process of land degradation and desertification. Vegetation cover provides a vital regulating service by preventing soil erosion. Soil fertility is essential for plant growth and agriculture and well functioning ecosystems supply the soil with nutrients required to support plant growth.
Ecosystem services "that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services". These include services such as nutrient recycling, primary production and soil formation.
Habitats for species: Habitats provide everything that an individual plant or animal needs to survive: food; water; and shelter. Each ecosystem provides different habitats that can be essential for a species’ lifecycle. Migratory species including birds, fish, mammals and insects all depend upon different ecosystems during their movements.
Cultural Services corresponds nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences.
Recreation and mental and physical health: Walking and playing sports in green space is not only a good form of physical exercise but also lets people relax. The role that green space plays in maintaining mental and physical health is increasingly being recognized, despite difficulties of measurement.
Tourism: Ecosystems and biodiversity play an important role for many kinds of tourism which in turn provides considerable economic benefits and is a vital source of income for many countries. In 2008 global earnings from tourism summed up to US$ 944 billion. Cultural and eco-tourism can also educate people about the importance of biological diversity.
Lifezones
Life zone
Polar
Nival
Dry Tundra
PPT(mm/yr): 1.0
T(ºc): 1.0
| Elevation of demosite: | meters above sea level |
| Humidity: | Semiparched |
| PETr (by year): |
EH Principles
Quantification of the hydrological processes at catchment scale and mapping the impacts
Distribution of ecosystems and their relevant processes (ex: metabolism=water and nutrient uptake and retention; biomass production)
Ecological engineering (integration, dual regulation and biotechnologies in catchment scale for enhancement of ecological potential)
ECOHYDROLOGY ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS
while fauna (macroinvertebrates, fish, birds) are present and indicate a healthy ecosystem, they are not actively used as a technology to regulate water quality or reduce eutrophication. Therefore, this is not considered an engineering solution provided by the site.
Faunatechnology
This is the primary solution. The BIOECODS@USM is a sequenced system of components designed to manage stormwater: Ecological Swale → Dry Pond → Wet Pond → Detention Pond → Constructed Wetland → Wading River → Recreational Pond.
Ecohydrological Infrastructure
The system extensively uses plants for water treatment. Specific native species like Typha angustifolia and Phragmites karka in the constructed wetlands and swales filter pollutants, absorb nutrients, and stabilize soil.
Phytotechnology
The system is engineered to manage both surface and subsurface water flow. It attenuates peak flows, increases lag time, promotes infiltration for groundwater recharge, and ensures a slow, treated discharge into the Kerian River.
Hydrological Flow
Major Issues
Expected Outcomes
The primary aims are to effectively mitigate flooding, significantly improve water quality, alleviate water scarcity, enhance biodiversity, and serve as an educational model for sustainable urban stormwater management, aligning with SDG 6.
Latest Results
- The system reduces peak flows by up to 85%, removes pollutants (e.g., 66.7% ammonium nitrogen), and supports 62 bird species. It has prevented flooding for 20+ years and created a vibrant habitat, validating its success through published data (e.g., Ayub et al., 2005
- Shaharuddin et al., 2019).
Contacts
Ratna Rajah Sivapiragasam
- ratnarajah@water.gov.my
- Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) & Humid Tropics Centre Kuala Lumpur (HTC KL)
Mohd Remy Rozainy Mohd Arif Zainol
- ceremy@usm.my
- Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) & Humid Tropics Centre Kuala Lumpur (HTC KL)
Social ecohydrological system
EH Objectives
EH Methodology
Catchment Ecohydrological sub-system
Objectives
Stakeholders
Catchment Sociological sub-system
Activities