Curtin students visit Miri Septic Sludge Treatment Plant

Miri – 26 August 2022 – The Department of Civil and Construction Engineering and Curtin Environmental Engineering Club of Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) recently organised a site visit by 17 students and lecturers to the Miri Septic Sludge Treatment Plant.

Dr. Tan Yee Yong, one of the accompanying lecturers, said the visit enabled the civil and construction engineering and environmental engineering students to learn more about the sewerage system in Miri.

“Septic tanks are the most commonly used basic sewerage facility for domestic wastewater in Miri and they require regular maintenance or desludging to maintain their efficiency. The septic sludge removed from the tanks must be adequately managed and disposed of, thus the purpose of the Miri Septic Sludge Treatment Plant,” said Dr. Tan, who is programme coordinator for environmental engineering at Curtin Malaysia’s Faculty of Engineering and Science.

He said the objective of the visit was to allow the students to observe the septic sludge treatment process at the plant and get a better understanding of the design and construction of such plants.

Also accompanying the students were lecturers Dr. Vera Loo Hui and Dr. Mohammad Noor Hazwan bin Jusoh.

Opened in 2012 and located in Tudan, the Miri Septic Sludge Treatment Plant treats more than 25,000 cubic metres of septic sludge annually. The plant is owned by the Department of Sewerage Services Sarawak and operated by Sarawak-based wastewater treatment specialists Sar-Alam Indah Sdn. Bhd.

Upon arrival at the plant, the group was briefed on its operations and legislation in respect of desludging in Sarawak by plant manager Rachel Lim.

Also present Nur Atiqah Jinal from the Department of Sewerage Services and Joanna Anak Johny and Emannuel Chai from Sar-Alam Indah Sdn. Bhd., who later took the group on a tour of the plant.

Both the students and lecturers were glad for the opportunity to visit the plant and learn more about sewage treatment in Miri City, particularly in relation to what is being taught in their civil and construction engineering and environmental engineering courses.

Final-year environmental engineering student Edenver Chin said the visit was a very informative and allowed him to get better insights into the technologies and processes used in sewage treatment. Fellow final-year environmental engineering student Tie Sing Yi, meanwhile, said the visit helped the students better understand some of the scientific theories and engineering concepts behind the processes used at the plant, and such knowledge could be very useful in their future careers as environmental and civil engineers.

Associate Professor Wong Kwong Soon, head of the Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, said site visits are an integral part of student learning at Curtin Malaysia, and thanks to its strong connections with industry, the Faculty of Engineering and Science is able to organise regular visits to industrial sites for students of the various engineering disciplines. Even during the MCO, site visits continued to be conducted, albeit virtually, and visits to sites in other states will be organised in the near future now that travel restrictions have been lifted.

Assoc. Prof. Wong said this and the return to full face-to-face teaching since the start of the current semester after a long period of online and hydrid learning has been warmly welcomed by all the students at Curtin Malaysia.

“We look forward to conducting more site visits in the coming months and in the new year to give our students more opportunities for practical learning,” he said.

Curtin Malaysia offers Curtin’s Bachelor of Engineering in Civil and Construction Engineering, which equips students with the knowledge and skills to apply scientific and technological principles to the design and construction of infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water supply and wastewater treatment systems, tunnels, power projects, offshore structures, and commercial and industrial buildings.

The Bachelor of Engineering in Environmental Engineering, meanwhile, provides a broad scope of environmental engineering, including water treatment, solid waste management, and domestic and industrial waste water treatment. Graduates can find employment in areas such as environmental impact assessment, air pollution prevention and control, environmental monitoring and management systems, soil erosion prevention, noise monitoring and control, recycling systems and oil spill recovery.

Both are four-year honours courses accredited by Engineers Australia (EA) and the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), and recognised by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA).

For more information on Curtin Malaysia, visit https:// www.curtin.edu.my or look for Curtin Malaysia on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn or Tik-Tok. More information on the Faculty of Engineering and Science can be found at https://engsci.curtin.edu.my/.

The Curtin students and staff posing for group photo with Sewerage Services Department and Sar-Alam Indah staff.

Emmanuel and Joanna showing the students the treatment plant’s receiving unit.

Joanna explaining the function of the distribution chamber.