World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) 2008 in Singapore Polytechnic

There really is a day for everything in this world, or so they say. Perhaps I should not be so surprised when I learned that there is such a day for water quality monitoring. It is organised by International Water Association (IWA) and Water Environment Federation (WEF) n USA. The coordinators in Singapore are Public Utilities Board (PUB) and Waterways Watch, Singapore (WWS). The main participants here are schools and polytechnics.

You can check them out here:

WWMD: http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org/
PUB: http://www.pub.gov.sg/
WWS: http://www.wws.org.sg/

The actual day is supposed to be 18 Sep but the monitoring can be done anytime from 18 Sep to 18 Oct. This year, I have decided to submit my water quality data as part of our national effort.

As WWMD is more about raising awareness on the importance of water quality, its requirements are very basic. Simply perform your water quality monitoring in the stipulated period based on 4 parameters - temperature, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO), in any water body of your choice. However, you may want to check with PUB or WWS to "reserve" your favourite site.

My data were collected from Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (SBWR), Sungei Mandai Besar and Nee Soon Freshwater Swamp. However, my data also include E. coli count, chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrate, phosphate, ammonia, electrical conductivity since these are part of my normal water quality monitoring programme.

Parties interested in future WWMD activities may contact PUB or WWD or email me for the contact.