The potential of treated heavy metal in groundwater through WASRA system for landscape irrigation/ Noor Rashida Hidayah Binti Ab Razak

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Earth Resources

Project Paper (Bachelors (Hon's) Civil Engineering) -- Universiti Malaysia Pahang – 2016

Bibliography : p.73-78

Irrigation is the most important water use sector about 70% of the global freshwater withdrawals compare others sector such as domestic and industrial. The two main sources of water for irrigation are surface water and groundwater. Groundwater has been considered as an important source of water supply because it is a relatively low occurrence of pollution and it is has a large storage capacity compared with surface water but groundwater consist a heavy metal. Groundwater need to treat before it can be used for irrigation. WASRA stands for Water Supply for Rural Area is the new system that designed mainly to treat groundwater. This study was conducted to determine the potential of treated heavy metal in groundwater in watering of ornamental plants, and analyses cost comparison and water consumption between WASRA water and tap water. There are 7 parameters tested in this study which are phosphorus, iron, copper, zinc, chloride, manganese and hardness. All of the parameters were tested referred to Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater by American Public Health Association (APHA, 2005). From the study conducted, it is found that all parameter are complied with Interim National Water Quality Standard for Malaysia, INWQS and Food Agriculture Organization, FAO. Then, the growth rate of the plants using WASRA water with watering twice per day shows the encouraging, very good and better growth resulted compared to the controlled water which is tap water. The height of plant is 1-4 folds from its early state and 1-3 folds for its canopy width. Furthermore, to identify how much water usage for a nursery, the water use of container-grown plants may be used to predict or estimate the water use. Then, according to National Landscape Guideline, 2008 the quantity of water needed by plant depend on species of plant, size of plant, temperature, humidity and also environment. In nursery UMP, there are about 3227 containers of plants with different species. The range of 100 mL to 500 mL is reasonable range to watering an ornamental plant. The water usage for nursery UMP approximately about 12,908 litres to 64,540 litres of water per a month is required for a watering a plant. Generally, the rate of water for a tap water in Pahang state was RM0.55/ m3 but the WASRA water approximately half from the water rate for tap water which is RM0.25/ m3. Based on the analysis, watering a plant by using WASRA water more economical and cheap compared to the tap water where reduced about 54.54% price of water. Thus, based on the result and observation, it is clearly showed that the WASRA water is a one of the potential and alternative water that can be used for irrigation purpose.