KUALA LUMPUR, 15 March – The technical team of Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Centre (DPPC), Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) from the Laboratory of Water and Microbiology, was involved as facilitator for the Global Project-Based Learning from 29th February 2024 until 9th March 2024. They were also assisted by the Deputy Director of DPPC, Associate Professor Dr. Aznah Nor Anuar.

Global Project-Based learning is a program that is being conducted between Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT) with MJIIT. With environmental theme, the students will evaluate the environmental quality around Kuala Lumpur. There are two modules related to the environmental and throughout the program, the students will undergo experimental works based on the modules. By the end of the program, the participants will be presenting the results obtained.

DPPC was involved in facilitating the students for one of the module, on Water Quality Awareness. In this module, students learned how to assess water quality using fieldwork instruments and conduct laboratory analysis of the water sample. To be specific, the learning approach is project-based learning on Sustainable Water Management for Urban Garden. The project area is located at the downstream area of Bunus River. Currently, the Bunus urban garden is utilising tap water for plant irrigation, but community have plan to utilise water from Bunus River in future. However, the water quality is questionable due to urbanization and human activities surrounding the area of Bunus River. Therefore, a water quality assessment needs to be conducted to identify the feasibility and recommendations required if any treatment is needed before the community can utilise the water.

DPPC technical team feels excited having this kind of opportunity, conducted fieldwork and co-learning with students utilizing DPPCs’ lab facilities for clean water awareness activity, as one of the risk management focused areas of DPPC.