Water Quality Index system being set up for river water

Brunei will have 12 water monitoring stations in all four districts under a plan to establish a Water Quality Index system that will determine the quality of river water, The Brunei Times learned yesterday.

Dr Hj Muhammad PDSM DPSS Dr Hj Abdul Aziz, environment officer at the Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation (Jastre), said the stations will be built to determine the quality of rivers.

The results will later be used to figure out the Water Quality Index of rivers in the country, he said on the sidelines of the Minister of Development's visit to the first water monitoring station in Kampong Ayer.

He said the first completed water monitoring station is in the water village's Kg Saba Tengah, with another 11 to be set up over a period. Each district will have three stations.

The three stations will be placed along the upstream, mid-stream and lower-stream of a river.

"If the first link between the Kg Saba Tengah water monitoring station and our system in our headquarters is established, then we can proceed with the remaining stations. We do not have the time line yet, but we are in the process of getting everything ready," he said.

Speaking on the quality of the water, Dr Hj Muhammad said they are looking into its biological and chemical aspects.

"Chemically, the water is not that polluted (with heavy metal and toxic metal) because of the absence of industries in the area. The traces of heavy metal are still very minute," he said.

However, the biological pollution rate is higher, with the environment officer attributing this to human waste. "Once the stations are up and running, we will know what the real situation is," he said. The index ranges from 90-100 (excellent), 70-90 (good), 50-70 (medium), 25-50 (bad), 0-25 (very bad).

The Brunei Times