Urban Lake - Roles & Applications

FACULTY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
SAB 4913 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
URBAN LAKE : ROLES AND APPLICATIONS

PREPARED FOR: DR. KHALIDA MUDA
4 Saw - 04
PREPARED BY :GROUP 6
MOHAMAD WAZIR SHAFIQ BIN NORDIN MUHAMMAD IKMAL BIN REDZURAN MUHAMMAD SUHAIMI BIN MAHUDDIN NURULHAIDA BINTI ISHAK WAN NUR AZYYATI BINTI WAN HUSSIN
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai (2012)
1.0
INTRODUCTION
Almost eighty percent of our country's population resides in metropolitan areas. Many city residents think of natural areas in a wilderness context. However, as cities spread outward, more and more streams, especially small creeks feeding directly into lowland rivers, are transformed into urban streams. These natural areas are perhaps the most neglected watercourses. Therefore, for the purpose of sustainability and to stabilize the imbalance between water and land, the urban lakes are one of the catchment basin that is bound by topographic features. As stated by Schueler & Simpson, the urban lakes are defined by six operational criteria for the purposes of watershed management as follows: they tend to be rather small, and generally have a surface area of 10 square miles or less (this excludes larger lakes). they tend to be shallow, with an average depth of 20 feet or less. they have a watershed area/drainage area ratio of at least 10:1, meaning that their watersheds exert a strong influence on the lake. the lake watershed must contain at least 5% impervious cover as an overall index of development. whether natural or man-made, the lake must be managed for recreation, water supply, flood control or some other direct human use. unique hydrology or nutrient cycling.
SAB 4913 - Environmental Management
Urban Lake : Roles & Applications
2.0
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MAN-MADE AND NATURAL LAKES
There are a few differences between man-made and natural lakes because of the purpose the formation themselves. Generally as the natural lakes are form naturally fixed to the nature needs. Meanwhile man-made are plan in order to fix to the nature needs for the purpose of sustainability. Firstly, in term of surface the drainage basins of man-made are much larger compared to natural lakes drainage basins. One direct consequence of this expanded area is that manmade reservoirs tend to have a shorter hydraulic residence time. Furthermore, since most man-made lakes are formed by placing a dam across a stream network, they tend to have much longer shorelines, and tend to be deeper than natural lakes as well. Natural lakes tend to be located at the head waters of the rivers or streams, where manmade lakes tend to be closer to the mouth. This is because the urban lake will play the pivotal role in achieving the balance biogenic environment and its existence will promote and enhance the importance of the environmental or urban ecological management system within the catchments. It is suitable to be located at Man-made lakes formed by river impoundment typically have hydrodynamic characteristics that are very different from natural lake because man-made lakes usually designed with specific requirement compared to natural lakes which are formed naturally. For example slower release rates are preferable compare to rapid release rates, which result in short and severe peaks instream flow. This is because storm events which generate large amounts of run-off can lead to flooding, soil erosion and siltation of streams if the impoundment would not be able to capture certain amount of water at certain period. The animal and plant life of man-made lakes may be very different from natural system. As for the natural lakes brings about a unique wildlife habitat. There are the varieties of flora and fauna, their behavior and habits. While for man-made lakes are base on the biogenic environmental as well as the sociogenic study ground for the urban development planning, landscaping architectural study and urban social study.
3.0
ROLE AND APPLICATION
The existence of the water body will influence the effort to: Ensure that built forms are created that shape wind flow which will enable the air to be cleansed and will avoid the development of heat islands; Avoid the transmission of pollutants into waterways within the city and downstream; and Reduce the increasing storm-water runoff, which is a result of the increased proportion of hard surfaces (roads, footpath and surface parking lots).
3.1
Flood management
As cities grow in size and more surfaces are paved, there is a growing concern for the water channeling effect of runoffs on watercourses, and lack of water penetration into the ground to replenish water tables. Not only is the land less able to filter such contaminants, the speed of runoff causes problems of erosion in watercourses and oil from parking lots raises the pollution levels of water, and consequently, affects the aquatic life.
The actual effects vary from city to city, but the overall impact of the high degree of hard surfaces in cities is to increase flood discharges by as much as 50 percent in areas with highly pervious surfaces, and up to 400 percent in cities with 80 percent impervious surfaces and whose areas are 80 percent storm-sewered (Chandler, 1976)
Once buildings and pavement are introduced, not only does the total discharge increase, but also does the speed of runoff when less water is able to penetrate the soil, leading to erosion and the scouring of riverbeds. The clearing of vegetation decreases a watershed's capacity to capture moisture, increasing the amount run-off. The loss of vegetation also destabilizes stream banks vegetation and reduces the shade produced by the canopy.
3.2
Recreational
Urban lakes are always design to be eco-friendly centre of recreational activities. Water based activities permitted on the lake include kayaking, rowing, swimming, dinghy sailing and windsurfing. The lakeshore is ideal among other things for bush-walking, bird watching, jogging, cycling and relaxing. The waterfront facilities include picnic and barbecue sites, lookout points and restaurants. Much space has been dedicated to public parks, gardens and water bodies oases of tranquility and enjoyment to people from all walks of life from hustle and bustle of city life who is seeking refuge from the pressures of modern urban hectic life. Nonetheless, these intangible benefits have been diminishing purely due to continuous pollution by the surrounding area at a very consistent rate.
3.3
Ecotourism
The ecotourism appeal lies in the development of a series of green areas and buffer zones complementing the water body that have merged to form a unique ecosystem, which is a vibrant corridor for local wildlife and vegetation. The developments of urban lakes are to meet the need of a well-functioning biogenic environment by creating the biologically self-correcting system of built and open areas. For this purpose, the consideration is given to the ecological functions in the sense of how the best to deal with the atmospheric pollution that the new settlement will generates, such as how to avoid hydrological imbalances.
3.4
Climate moderator
Water also can play the role to lower the climate changed effect to the earth since the higher the water content in the air, the more moderate the climate. Proximity to water bodies causes humidity to be higher due to evaporation of water from the water surface. All other things being equal, the greater distance from a major water body, the drier the air. As for the urban area, the urban lakes can play role to be the climate moderator to that particular area. Since there is more humidity, clouds are more frequent. Thus the temperature fluctuation on a daily basis is a little less than areas not affected by urban lakes. Therefore the hydrologic cycle is complete and all the precipitation and evaporation has balanced out.
4.0
CASE STUDY: KELANA JAYA LAKE
4.1
Introduction
Lakes are known to be complex ecosystems, home to many species of plants and animals. They interact with each other, and the environment that surrounds them. Containing 90% of the worlds liquid surface freshwater, natural and artificial lakes has been providing many uses for sustainable human livelihood & economic development. Lakes are very unique bodies of water. They often reflect the climate and environment that surround them. Therefore, a lake is more vulnerable to stress and has higher risk of being polluted is than any other water body. In the case of Kelana Jaya Lakes, it is an artificial lake initially for flood retention. However, it has been developed as public and recreation park for public benefits. Unavoidable developments around the catchment area have placed the lake in high risk of getting polluted. The Kelana Jaya Lakes have been receiving all types of solid and liquid waste through its inlet which is the monsoon drain. As a result, its condition is deteriorating, and eventually will not be a suitable habitat for native aquatic species that depend on it. Hence, an innovative technology called Ecofan was installed in Kelana Jaya Lake 1 that aims to rejuvenate the water quality and indirectly will improve the overall health of the lake. Thou, the technology have been proven in Japan to treat water in recreation lake but it has not been proven to be effective in treating lake water in Malaysia yet. For that reason, water sampling and analysis of Kelana Jaya Lake 1 has been conducted by GEC and Department of Chemistry Malaysia to gain the baseline data of Kelana Jaya Lake 1 water quality and to verify the effectiveness of the technology by comparing the lake water quality result before and after the Ecofan installation.
4.2
History
The Kelana Jaya Lakes are ex-mining ponds in the Sungai Damansara River Basin in Selangor managed by the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ). They were initially managed solely as flood retention areas until they were developed as a public park in 1996. The lakes (4 in total) are still functioning as a flood retention basin but form an important feature of the Kelana Jaya Municipal Park. The lakes are also a popular spot for anglers.
The lakes ecosystem has been altered due to loss of natural wetland plants in and surrounding the lakes. They have been replaced with rock, concrete or landscaping plants during the Park development and the catchment areas around the lakes have been developed for housing and commercial centres. In 1998, the Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong was build adjacent to the park. As a result of these changes, the water quality of the lakes deteriorated. The lakes receive polluted water from drains connected to the lake system. This has lead to major loss of local fish species which are sensitive to pollution. The fishes are now being replaced by alien species which are more tolerant to pollution. Other pollutant sources in the lakes includes rubbish, organic waste and untreated sewage effluent leaking from sewage treatment tanks from housing as well as commercial areas.
4.3
Water Quality
The water quality of lakes is defined by the variables which are measured within the water basin. Among the typical variables include water clarity or transparency, the quantity of algae, the concentration of nutrients, the concentration of oxygen, the concentration of dissolved minerals, and the level of acidity. Lakes, especially those in urban areas are subject to discharge of chemical compounds from industrial waste. Some of these have toxic or deleterious effects on humans.They can also kill aquatic organisms, and cause damage to irrigated crops. The water quality analysis of the Kelana Jaya Lake is given below.It must be noted here that analysis of water quality classes on April 16th and 18th 2008 are less accurate due to heavy rainfall, and this may influence in the results for WQI class. WQI for April 23rd 2008 and May 16th and 22nd 2008, shows that the water quality class decreases from class III to class IV in every point. Overall, the WQI results for Kelana Jaya Lake 1 falls within the class of IV which is only suitable for irrigation and V which is not suitable for any forms of life. This is a clear indication that Kelana Jaya Lake 1 has a high level of built up pollution.
4.3.1
pH
pH is a measure of acid balance of a solution. It influences many biological and chemical processes within a water body. According to Chapman & Kimstach (1996), pH in natural water is within the range of 6.0 8.5. The data that have been analysis shows that pH is within natural water pH range; however, it does not imply that the water quality is in good and natural condition. The acidity of Kelana Jaya Lake 1 could be influenced by water discharge from commercial and resident outlets. Lake water is quite a complex system - major changes in pH are prevented as lake water is full of chemical shock absorbers, so to speak. Various chemical reactions in lake water modify small or localised changes in pH. Therefore, very little change or none at all occurs. The ability to resist change in pH is widely known as buffering capacity.
4.3.2
Dissolved Oxygen
Oxygen is important to all forms of life. In water body, oxygen plays significant role in all chemical and biological process. It exists as dissolved oxygen and it is an important measurement to indicate the degree of pollution by organic matter, destruction of organic substance and for the measurement of biochemical oxygen demand. The overall DO data for Kelana Jaya Lake 1 varies from one point to another but has decreasing pattern in relation to sampling date. This variation could be explained by temperature and biological activities or biological process rates that might influenced oxygen content as mentioned by Chapman & Kimstach (1996). According to Chapman & Kimstach (1996), waste discharge that is high in organic matter and nutrient content can lead to low concentration of DO and due to increase microbial activity such as respiration for organic matter decomposition. Concentration of DO that is less than 5 mg/L will adversely affects the functioning and survival of aquatic organisms and DO that is less than 2 mg/L is likely to cause the death.
4.3.3
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is basically the measurement of the amount of biochemically degraded organic matter present in a water sample (Chapman & Kimstach, 1996). The first two sampling dates were affected by weather that may lead to inaccuracy of result interpretation. The other sampling dates vary with lowest of 5 mg/L and highest of 151 mg/L. As stated by Chapman & Kimstach (1996), unpolluted water usually have BOD value of 2mg/L or less, waste water normally have BOD value of 10mg/L and above, raw sewage with BOD of 600mg/L, treated sewage effluent with 20 100 mg/L and industrial waste with 25 000 mg/L of BOD values.
4.3.4
Chemical Oxygen Demand
Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) is a measurement of susceptibility of organic and inorganic materials present to be oxidizing in water bodies (Chapman & Kimstach, 1996). The highest value of COD is 225 mg/L which falls under the category of effluent discharge with value of 200 mg/L above (Chapman & Kimstach,1996). From the data, it could be construe that discharge waste water from Kelana Jaya catchments area that goes into Kelana Jaya Lake 1 may consist of waste effluent from resident and commercial outlets. 4.3.5 Total Suspended Solid Total Suspended Solid (TSS) is a measurement to measure water clarity for water quality assessment. TSS includes all particles suspended in water which will not pass through a filter. These suspended solid may comes from urban runoff, agricultural land, industrial waste, erosion, algal growth and wastewater discharge. TSS in Kelana Jaya Lake 1 varies from 12 mg/L to 111 mg/L. Increase of TSS directly reduced DO concentration in water body, hence, reducing the ability of a water body to support life.
4.4
1st Phase: Community Awareness & Participation in Conservation of Freshwater Ecosystem and its Biodiversity
The first phase of Kelana Jaya Lakes Rehabilitation Programme begun officially in the year of 2002 and was funded by UNDP- GEF. The project was led by Global Environment Centre (GEC) to assist local authorities in the rehabilitation of the lakes and to promote collaboration with the local communities (Local Agenda 21) living around the park and in the catchment. The major aims of this project were to reduce the level of pollution flowing into the lakes and to increase community awareness. Therefore, a few activities has been conducted and accomplished by all stakeholders. The biggest accomplishment of this project is the establishment of Friends of Kelana Jaya Park (FoKJP) in 2005 to develop plans and strategies for rehabilitation of the lakes. FoKJP works alongside MBPJ and GEC to increase communitys awareness on the importance of rehabilitating biodiversity of the lake and the linkage of their household activities and pollution of the lakes and subsequently mobilise them to minimise and eventually stop this pollution source from entering the lake system. In addition, the community is being informed of the importance of re establishing a more natural ecosystem which can provide better habitats for wildlife.
4.5
2nd Phase: Rehabilitation of Kelana Jaya Lake through Community Participation
Rehabilitation of Kelana Jaya Lake through Community Participation is the second phase of Kelana Jaya Lakes Rehabilitation Programme. The project is curently funded by Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI). The main focus of this project is to clean up Lake 1 using innovative technology with local community participation. The two years project is lead by Global Environment Centre (GEC) which is partnership with Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya (MBPJ) and Friends of Kelana Jaya Park (FoKJP) and Jabatan Kimia Malaysia with support of Tropical Benchmark Sdn. Bhd. The aims of the project are to demonstrate an innovative and affordable solution to improve water quality in the polluted lake and to strengthen the role of the local residents especially FoKJP and other partners in the stewardship of lakes and the park.
10
5.0
CONCLUSION
The conclusion is the urban lakes is the lake that located in urban area and it can be either natural lakes or man-made. It has several operational criteria in terms of sizes and design characteristic to meet the purpose of urban lake. Urban lakes have many advantages and not only benefits to the human being but also to the nature, where its role and application not only focused on landscaping. The most important roles of urban lakes are the applications of urban lakes as the flood controller and climate moderator rather than for the landscaping purpose. However, it is also important to control and manage the urban lakes especially the water quality. Hence unavoidable developments around the catchment area have placed the lake in high risk of getting polluted. Nowadays, an innovative technology called Ecofan was installed to rejuvenate the water quality and indirectly will improve the overall health of the lake. Thou, the technology have been proven in Japan to treat water in recreation lake but it has not been proven to be effective in treating lake water in Malaysia yet as it is used in Kelana Jaya Lake 1.

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FACULTY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

SAB 4913 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

URBAN LAKE : ROLES AND APPLICATIONS

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai (2012)

SAB 4913 - Environmental Management