PETALING JAYA, 6 July 2019 - Forty (40) secondary students from Kuen Cheng High School had played the role of a “scientist” for a day as they conducted physical, chemical and biological experiments in Sungai Penchala river at Taman Persekutuan Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur today through an award-winning river educational programme - Salcon Smart Water Programme (SSWP).
SSWP is a proud initiative by Salcon Berhad and long-term collaboration with Water Watch Penang (WWP) aimed to raise awareness on water conservation through a hands-on education approach as well as theoretical learning.
SSWP is carried out on a bi-monthly basis and this is the 9 th consecutive year of the programme which started since 2010, in nurturing the young to care for the environment and raise awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving the health of the water resources.
With the guidance of the facilitators from WWP, the students conducted physical, chemical and biological water monitoring. Physical monitoring involved observation on river appearance, sediment appearance, algae appearance, water odour and water flow rate. Whereas chemical water monitoring included water testing, water turbidity and
dissolved oxygen testing. Students were able to gauge the water quality with the pH level test result. Lastly, students can identify the aquatic organism using water monitoring kits via biological water monitoring. As a result, students can discover the river’s ecosystem and learnt more about water resource management.
“I strongly recommend for all students to take part in the SSWP as it is such a well-rounded learning programme. They are not only exposed to various educational knowledge on water preservation but also able to inculcate responsible behaviors towards protecting our precious water resources.” said Ms Foo Cheau Yee, teacher.
Aside from this, the team measured the effectiveness of the programme through a pre and post survey. It aimed to determine the understanding and knowledge improvement of the students.
Ms Chern Meng Gaik, General Manager- Corporate of Salcon Berhad said that the programme was a holistic approach to engage the students and community in water conservation and education. “We hope they can fully understand the importance of river nature and learn how to become be good stewards of the environment in the future.” said Ms Chern To date, the programme has benefitted more than 40 schools and 2,700 children and has garnered good support and response from teachers and students.