Goh Wei Tjin (FASS), Jessica Cecilia Bose (FASS), Khoo Jun Hao Desmond (FoE), Lee Wenxin (FASS), Tay Wei Hern (FoE)
Academic Advisor: Dr. Chua Siew Chin
Industry Advisor: Mr. Ang Chee Wee (OFM, NUS)
Today two-thirds of Singapore’s land areas serve as water catchment areas, meaning that much of our urban surface water runoff ultimately is captured and recycled for our usage. Bioswales are green landscapes that could improve the quality of the surface water runoff, as they are designed to reduce the amounts of toxic pollutants in storm water. Bioswales are increasingly popular in recent years as part of Singapore’s green landscapes but not many people know about them, their purposes, nor their effectiveness. Our group aim to test the effectiveness of bioswales in cleansing the storm water. We will mainly be testing for pH as well as the presence of heavy metals like Lead, Aluminium and Copper, as a measure of water quality. Since testing the water collected after having gone through an actual bioswale is unfeasible due to safety precautions, our group is modelling 3 miniature bioswales to carry out the experiment. By planting rosemary, basil and mint respectively in a layering of gravel and different types of soil, we will be filtering storm water through these bioswales and testing the water quality before and after the process to check for improvement.
Keywords: Built Environment and Green Infrastructure, water pollution, water quality, experiment planting