Research Institutes, Centres and Units - Universiti Sains Malaysia

River Engineering and
Urban Drainage Research Centre
River Engineering and Urban Drainage Research Centre (REDAC) was the first
research centre at the Engineering Campus USM which was established on May 31,
2001. REDAC, formerly known as River Engineering and Urban Drainage Unit (UKSSB),
has been active in research and consultancy projects in urban drainage management
since 1997. Among the project sponsors are Ministry of Science, Technology and the
Innovation (MOSTI), Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia (DID), Economic
Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department, Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP)
and Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB).
A sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) known as Bio-Ecological Drainage
Systems (BIOECODS) was designed by REDAC and subsequently constructed at the
USM Engineering Campus, Penang in 2002. BIOECODS attempts to solve three major
problems commonly encountered in Malaysia namely flash floods, river pollution
and water scarcity. By implementing BIOECODS, it will help preserve the natural
characteristics of the existing river ecosystem. A presentation on BIOECODS was made
at the 11 th International Conference on Urban Drainage, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
(UK) in September 2008.
REDAC has also been very active in promoting sustainable river management through
applied research on sediment transport in rivers. River models such as FLUVIAL-12,
HEC-RAS and INFOWORK-RS are used to study river morphology and the consequences
for river equilibrium to be attained. A guideline titled “River Sand Mining Management”
was recently approved by DID for use in Malaysia. The guideline was produced after
an intensive field work and river modeling for three rivers namely Sungai Muda, Sungai
Langat and Sungai Kerian. Several articles based on the conducted research in urban
drainage and river engineering were published in acclaimed international journals such
as Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and
Water Management Journal, Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), UK.
A triennial international conference has been organised by REDAC on Managing Rivers
in the 21 st Century, Rivers’04 from 21 st – 23 rd September 2004 at Penang and Rivers’07
at Kuching, Sarawak from 6 th – 8 th June 2007. The International Journal of River Basin
Management published a special issue on Rivers’04 containing 10 selected papers from
the proceedings of Rivers’04 and another special issue for Rivers’07 was published in
Water Management Journal.