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River guardians

30 September 2009

Chris Funtera (left) takes samples with the students.

A Monash honours student is inspiring young Malaysians to care for the environment, starting in their own backyard.

When environmental science student Chris Funtera travelled to Malaysia from Australia under the University's mobility program, he was surprised to discover Malaysia did not have community-based river monitoring.

So he started his own, designing a project to help foster community interest in the Ampang River, which flows through Kuala Lumpur. Together with his supervisor Professor Cathy Yule and other honours students from the Sunway campus, Chris started the bio-monitoring process by assessing the aquatic organisms that lived in different parts of the river.

A total of 120 students from International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL) take part in the project, taking samples at various points along the river.

Chris said the monitoring project was a great way to promote environmental awareness, especially among high school students who were at an age when they were keen to take on more responsibilities.

"I also wanted to show them they can still appreciate nature even in the middle of a bustling city like Kuala Lumpur," he said.

Samples collected from the Ampang River were taken to the School of Science, where they were chemically and biologically monitored to assess their compliance with national standards.

Tests confirmed the degradation of water quality in parts of the river. The young environmental scientist said the students were shocked to see how quickly river water could become polluted.

"Like most people, they simply didn't know how to check the river, or what signs to look out for," he said.

Armed with new knowledge, the young Malaysian students are now working on ways to restore the river to health.