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INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ON WATER SCIENCES AND RESEARCHbiological sciences, humanities and engineering schools, particularlyREDAC and CGSS, have been working on:• flood forecasting, digital mapping, risk studies andflood mitigations• simulation of tsunami currents, for example Merbok Estuaryin Kedah• assisting government agencies like the Department ofDrainage Malaysia on water issues such as preparing thenew version of MSMA, the Urban Storm Water ManagementManual for Malaysia• rehabilitation of degraded and polluted rivers• sustainable urban drainage systems• community-based vulnerability and adaptation to floodand food security (Kuala Nerang, Kedah).An integrated and sustainable urban drainage system, known asBio-Ecological Drainage Systems (BIOECODS), was designedby REDAC and subsequently constructed in 2002 at the USMEngineering Campus in Penang to help address the issues of flashfloods, river pollution and water scarcity. 8Another important area of research concerns community-basedadaptation and disaster risk management (DRM) in response toclimate change-induced floods and food security issues. DRMmust be defined inclusively to cover both ‘rapid-onset, highimpact’events such as floods and ‘slow-onset, high-impact’disasters such as climate change and poverty. Recognizing thatmost present-day sustainable development (SD) challengesbelong to the latter category, CGSS conducted a communitybasedclimate adaptation and food security project in KualaNerang, Kedah, in Northern Peninsular Malaysia. This projectinvolved stakeholder consultation and capacity-building; assessmentof community vulnerability to flood-related food insecurityand prospects for adaptation to climate change; and communityempowerment through physical and process-based adaptationimplementation assistance. For the long term, a new pathwaythat connects DRM to SD (Neo DRM-SD) could be found thataddresses poverty, debilitating disasters and diseases, rapid lossof biodiversity, and depleting capital within an integrated andcooperative regime. 9Stormwater managementThe volume of stormwater, the timing of surges within the systemand the contaminants that stormwater may contain present the mostsevere challenges to urban water management. Other environmentalissues caused by stormwater include increased turbidity from erosion,habitat destruction and heightened seasonal variation in water levels.USM scientists have developed the BIOECODS integrated solution forsustainable urban drainage systems to address these multiple challenges.The application of several best management practice options includingswales, wet ponds, detention ponds and wetlands, allows BIOECODSto remove stormwater pollutants effectively. Bioecological swales targeturban rooftops and car parks, while underground bioecological detentionstorages and bioecological dry ponds help restore water quality. 10Computer modellingUSM has been working closely with Malaysian water authorities andstakeholder groups to provide them with water scenarios for thefuture. We are using a variety of computer modelling approaches tostudy issues relating to scour, sediment transport, land use changes,flood levels and tsunamis. The 2011 REDAC Profile 11includes examples such as scour modelling, integratedriver basin management, flood plain modelling andtsunami modelling.Scour modelling – using soft computing techniques suchas artificial neural networks, ANFIS and Gene expressionprogramming, researchers have modelled scour problemsand conducted training based on their findings.Integrated river basin management – geographicinformation system-assisted models have been usedfor water quantity (flood) and sediment yield fromthe catchment area of the Bukit Merah dam usingHEC-HMS and SWAT methodologies. The results showthat land-use projections through 2015 are suitable forflow but not for sediment yield. This has implicationsfor the management of the catchment, dam operationsand land management.Flood plain modelling – USM researchers often usecomputational and numerical models to predict waterflow and quality, sediment transport and toxic contaminantconcentration in river and estuarine basins andcatchment areas. For example, using modelling resultsfor flood levels along Sungai Selangor (~106 km long)and its flood plains between cross-section km 53 tokm 67, shows that the areas flooded are 736 and 889hectares for 50-year and 100-year floods respectively.Such river flood risk maps are useful for developmentplanning in the river basin. 12Tsunami modelling – USM researchers have modelledthe role of mangrove trees on the hydrodynamicprocesses of tsunami waves and studied the potentialeffects of tsunami waves from the South China Sea onthe east coast of Malaysia. 13Field research on water qualityImage: REDAC USM[ 293 ]