waterman booklet p01 0621 · n 2008, the hong kong jockey club charities trust donated hk$29.76...

Forewordn 2008, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust donated HK$29.76 million to The University of Hong Kong (HKU) for an initiative to develop a pioneering water quality forecast and management system for Hong Kong (entitled Project ‘WATERMAN’). This

3-year project is a joint venture between the Departments of Civil Engineering and Computer Science of HKU, supported by a Steering Committee and a number of collaborating government departments.

To provide real-time water quality information about the Hong Kong waters to the public and stakeholders, we aim to develop an innovative environmental knowledge platform that consists of four key components: namely Beach Water Quality Forecast System, Fisheries Management System, 3D Environmental Impact Assessment System and Educational Platform.

After almost two years of effort in development and careful calibration and verification, we are delighted to announce that a pilot version of one of the key components, the beach water quality forecast system, was launched in March this year, to coincide with the celebration of the International World Water Day on March 22, 2010, the theme of which was “Clean Water for a Healthy World”.

During this testing phase of the pilot system, many supporting research studies, especially on hydrological and hydrodynamic modellings, will be carried out to test the operational feasibility of the system. We are also collecting valuable feedback and comments from registered users, so that we can realize a better merging between research and application. There will be frequent updates in coming months, so please visit the WATERMAN web page (www.waterman.hku.hk) from time to time to enjoy a variety of benefits and services.

This first issue highlights what WATERMAN has achieved in its first year. Through these pages you may also preview our pilot beach water quality forecast system, as well as other major modules of the system that are currently under development.

I

uccessful management of the water environment requires effective processing and understanding of meteorological, GIS, modeling and simulation data. These data are multi-dimensional and highly interdependent, and therefore difficult to

comprehend, even by trained professionals.

In the WATERMAN project we are faced with the challenging task of managing and processing a huge amount of data. One of our goals is to enhance accessibility to these data as valuable resources. Our WATERMAN system is an Internet-based platform that allows the public to access water quality related information, thereby promoting public engagement in environmental protection. We have been making new educational materials available on the project web site, aiming to develop it into an online knowledge base to serve all the people who care about the precious water environment of Hong Kong.

To support better understanding of complex simulation results from our advanced hydraulic models for environmental impact assessment (EIA), we have developed a computer visualization system, NOVA, that is tightly coupled with GIS data to provide an effective tool for 3D EIA. We are also developing high quality interactive 3D visualization over the Internet, which is a challenge even for today's communication technology. This new function will enable users to have online interactive access to the advanced 3D visualization capabilities of the WATERMAN system.

We welcome your views and suggestions to help improve our system.

S

Prof. Joseph H.W. LeePrincipal Investigator, Project WATERMANRedmond Chair of Civil Engineering, HKU

Prof. W.P. WangCo-Principal Investigator, Project WATERMAN

Department of Computer Science, HKU

Newsletter

1ISSUE

June 2010

PROJECT

WATERMAN

The launching ceremony of Project WATERMAN was held on April 29, 2009 at Wang Gungwu Lecture Hall, HKU. The ceremony was officiated by Mr. William Y. Yiu, Executive Director, Charities, The Hong Kong Jockey Club, Ms. Anissa Sean-Yee Wong, Permanent Secretary for the Environment / Director of Environmental Protection of the HKSAR Government, Prof. Lap-Chee Tsui, Vice-Chancellor and President of HKU and Prof. Joseph Hun-Wei Lee, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President of HKU and the Principal Investigator of the project.

Prof. Lee gave a 10-minute presentation at the ceremony about the project background, vision and objectives. The ceremony was well-attended by more than 100 participants, including members of the Steering Committee of WATERMAN and invited guests. Most participants were from government departments, consultancy firms and local universities.

The event was reported by several media organizations including TVB News, Ta Kung Pao and Ming Pao. The project web site was also publicly released on May 3, 2009.

A subsequent interview providing a detailed report on the project was aired on ATV News during February 16-18, 2010. The programme also talked about the expected improvement in water quality in Tuen Mun's beaches after the commencement of Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (HATS) Stage II by the end of 2009.

Prof. Joseph Lee being interviewed by the media

HKU Kick Starts Project WATERMAN

Officiating Guests and the Steering Committee of WATERMAN

Team members giving system demonstration to visitors

WATERMAN Newsletter ISSUE 1, June 2010

NEWS CORNER


Steering Committee and Working Groups

The Steering Committee of WATERMAN, chaired by Dr. Sarah Sau-Tung Liao, is formed by representatives from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, officials from the collaborating government departments (Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, Drainage Services Department, Environmental Protection Department, Hong Kong Observatory and Leisure and Cultural Services Department) and local and overseas experts from industry and academia.

The Steering Committee serves to review the project progress, provide general direction and advice on public engagement.

Steering Committee

The development of WATERMAN is facilitated by different working groups that draw on the expertise of key stakeholders in the various government departments. Since the commencement of project, the WATERMAN team has been working with the Environmental Protection Department and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department to discuss the development of the beach water quality forecast system. Meetings have also been held with the Drainage Services Department to explore the possibility of applying WATERMAN for the optimization of disinfection in the HATS project, and with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department on mariculture management.

Collaboration with working groups

Croucher ASI on Nearshore Coastal Water Quality Research

A Croucher Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on Nearshore Coastal Water Quality Research (with Prof. Joseph Lee as Course Director) was held on December 14-19, 2009 at HKU.

The workshop invited over 30 world leading experts to give lectures and have discussions on topics related to 1) nearshore hydrodynamics, mixing and transport; 2) water quality modelling and hydro-biological interactions; 3) beach water quality forecasting and management; and 4) environmental impacts of seawater desalination. Most of these topics are relevant to the current project. WATERMAN team members also presented their work during the Croucher ASI.

Prof. Joseph Lee giving a speech at the Opening Ceremony of Croucher ASI

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Dr. Sarah Liao (middle) is the Chair of the Steering Committee, which consists of representatives from industry and government departments

The Great Lakes Coastal Forecasting System (GLCFS) is a system of computerized models that can simulate and predict the three-dimensional structure of currents, temperatures, water level fluctuations, wind waves, ice, and sediments in the Great Lakes (Copyright image courtesy of GLERL, NOAA)


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Overseas Conference and Visit

On August 18, 2009, the WATERMAN team visited the U.S. NOAA

Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL), which is

one of the seven Federal research laboratories within the Oceanic

and Atmospheric Research Office of NOAA. Its main focus is

environmental and ecosystem research in the Great Lakes and

coastal marine environments. One of the major projects in GLERL is

the Great Lakes Coastal Forecasting System (GLCFS) which

provides near real time information on hydrodynamic conditions

and short term forecast on currents, waves, water temperature, etc.,

and it has become a useful tool for use by lake carriers, port

managers, emergency response teams and recreational boaters.

Visit to Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory

Prof. Joseph Lee delivering the distinguished ASCE-EWRI Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Lecture

The WATERMAN team attended the 33rd International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research (IAHR) in Vancouver held on August 9-14, 2009.

During this conference, Prof. Joseph Lee delivered the distinguished ASCE-EWRI Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Lecture for receiving the 2009 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award. Prof. Lee gave a lecture on “Mixing of Multiple Buoyant Jets” which summarized his 30 years’ experience on research on jet and ocean outfall including the recent results on multiple jets in Project WATERMAN. One of our team members, Anthony W. Thoe, gave a presentation on short term beach water quality forecast.

The 33rd IAHR Biennial Congress

The team was hosted by Dr. David Schwab, one of the key persons in developing the GLCFS. He gave a brief introduction of the system and the operational procedures that are being used for data processing, nowcasting and forecasting the Great Lakes environmental conditions. The visit provided valuable insights on the development of real time forecast system and engendered useful exchanges.


FEATURE

Swimming in marine beaches is a very popular activity for Hong Kong people. During holidays, beaches such as Deep Water Bay beach and Golden beach are frequently crowded with thousands of bathers. The quality of the bathing water is important, as swimming in faecal-contaminated water may result in gastrointestinal and skin illnesses. The most commonly used and internationally accepted water quality indicator of faecal pollution is Escherichia coli (E. coli). Epidemiological studies of swimmers at Hong Kong beaches have demonstrated a strong relationship between the level of E. coli and the incidence rate of swimming-associated illnesses.

The WATERMAN system aims at providing daily beach water quality forecasts to Hong Kong beaches, by predicting the E. coli level in the beach water. This will be one of the first prototype systems in the world for marine beaches, and our objective is to enhance the protection of public health and the proper use of beach resources.

Pilot Beach

Water Quality Forecast System

Our Pilot Beach Water Quality Forecast System was launched in March 2010 for testing operational feasibility. Serving as an integrated platform for the public, users can obtain daily beach water quality forecasts and general beach information from our system. Over summer 2010, the forecast will progressively cover 10 gazetted beaches in Hong Kong, including the three popular beaches, Golden beach in the Tuen Mun district, Deep Water Bay beach and Big Wave Bay beach in the Southern district.

During the pilot testing phase, the forecast model performance will be closely monitored by field sampling of beach water quality to cross-check with the model results. We aim at improving the reliability of the system through real-time application with a backup of field data. We also welcome feedback from users to help improve our system. Please visit www.waterman.hku.hk/beach for further details.

Why is beach water quality forecast important?


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What do We Offer?daily water quality forecast

The variation of E. coli concentration is complex, but is essentially affected by the following seven hydro-meteorological parameters: rainfall, solar radiation, onshore wind, tide level, salinity, water temperatureand the past E. coli level. The WATERMAN system provides a daily Beach Water Quality Forecast Index which is computed based on the everyday hydro-meteorological parameters for each beach. The forecast index is a clearly defined four-level index system indicating different health risks. The probabilities of the four levels that will happen on a day are also estimated.

Past E. coli level

Rainfall

Wind speed & direction

Global solar radiation

Tide level

Water temperature

Salinity

25 - 180

181 - 610

>610

Beach WaterQuality Forecast

Index

Predicted E. coliConcentration

(count / 100 mL)Health Risk *

≤ 24

Low

Moderate

High

Negligible

* Health risk: Risk of getting swimming associated gastro-intestinal and skin illnesses


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Pollution sources

There are also local factors affecting beach water quality. For example, at Big Wave Bay, there is a stream which drains through an unsewered village; the stream is deemed to bring upstream pollutants into the beach water by means of non-point source pollution. Consequently, noticeable deterioration of water quality at Big Wave Bay is usually observed after rainy days. Understanding the pollution sources helps reveal the critical parameters affecting beach water quality.

Prediction of the dynamic variation of bacterial level

A stream discharges into beach water

Aerial photo and local pollution sources

Water Quality Objective = 180 E. coli / 100 mL

The above figure shows the variation of E. coli level at Silvermine Bay beach. It can be observed that the E. coli level increases in rainy days, and keeps at low level in sunny days. The current beach monitoring criteria (lnEC5) cannot follow closely the dynamic variation of the E. coli level. On the contrary, the predictive model manages to track the changes in water quality on a daily basis. In particular, most of the sudden deterioration of water quality after rain events can be predicted, giving an overall prediction accuracy of 85%.

Field observation

< 180

< 180

> 180

> 180

67 8

95

72 (93%) 17 (53%)

75 (89%)

14 (64%)

89 (85%)

Modelprediction

What do We Offer?beach information

The WATERMAN system is an integrated platform for the public to obtain all necessary information related to a beach and water conditions. The following illustrates what can be obtained from our system:

Beach related hydro-meteorological and tide level information

We identify the most critical hydro-meteorological information (such as rainfall and wind speed) that bathers are advised to know before their beach visit, and provide links to that information. Tidal information of the closest tidal prediction station to the beaches is given.

Time series of significant wave height and wind data at Big Wave Bay beach during February 10-26, 2009

Wave conditions

Wave information at Big Wave Bay, a beach frequented by surfers, is presented in our system. The general relationship between wave height and wind speed/direction was studied based on wave height measured at the beach for two weeks during February 2009.

Predicted tide at Waglan Island

Wave bore and the wave-induced turbulence in the surf zone of Big Wave Bay beach

Big Wave Bay BeachYearly distribution of beach gradings during bathing season (March - October)

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

AprMar May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

Monthly distribution of beach gradings (2004-2008)

Good Fair Poor Very Poor

Historical trends of beach water quality

The monthly distribution of beach gradings in the

previous five years is available on our system. This serves as

an additional information for the public to understand

the historical trend of the beach water quality.

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PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Field StudiesTo provide data for model calibration and validation, a number of field studies, namely beach water quality field surveys and marine water quality field surveys are carried out as part of Project WATERMAN.

Beach water quality field surveys

� In summer 2008, daily field surveys were undertaken at five representative beaches to study the daily variation and obtain baseline information.

� In 2009, event-based field surveys were carried out during rainstorms at Big Wave Bay to study the dynamic changes in water quality due to rainfall and river discharge. Field instruments were installed at Big Wave Bay to study the continuous variation in hydrodynamics condition.

� In 2010, as the pilot beach water quality forecast system isin operation, field surveys are carried out for validation and analysis whenever poor water quality is predicted by our system. The decay rate of E. coli will also be studied in the field to understand the effect of different environmental factors on growth and mortality of this pathogen indicator.

Event-based field surveys carried out during rainstorms at Big Wave Bay. (Left) Hourly rainfall on a sampling date; (Right) Spatial variation of the E.coli concentration at 3pm on the same day


Marine water quality field surveys

Since last winter, our team has been collaborating with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department to collect water quality information in southern waters. This year, the survey will be further extended to eastern waters. Data collected from the field surveys will help determining the ocean boundary condition and be used to drive the hydrodynamic and water quality models.


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We are currently developing a red tide early warning system that consists of two main components: i) providing daily forecast on the likelihood of red tide in various water zones in the coming week; and ii) predicting the red tide movement in case of outbreak. The red tide forecast is based on a stability theory on conditions necessary for red tides; while the movement prediction is based on 3D hydrodynamic model particle tracking.

When high red tide likelihood is predicted, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) will be alerted. If a red tide

Hong Kong is one of the top five fish consuming cities in Asia. Every day, we consume over 300 tonnes of marine fish, which is four times the world's average. Local mariculture is one important sector supporting this high fish demand. Moreover, the fish farms also serve a dual purpose of storing overseas live fish.

Due to the deteriorating marine water quality, local fish farming has been significantly impaired. The marine fish production has dropped from 2,470 tonnes in 2001 to 1,370 tonnes in 2008. When the pollution loading exceeds nature's self-cleansing capability, problems such as the outbreak of red tides and hypoxic condition (low dissolved oxygen) may occur.

Red tide early warning system

The Mariculture and

Red Tide Forecast System

Prediction and tracking for massive red tide in November 2009 (red dots are areas affected)

High

Low

Medium

Probability of red tide occurrence in the coming week

Red tide occurrence in the past week

is spotted, our project team will be informed and start predicting the red tide movement. The information will be sent to AFCD for necessary mitigation. The figure below shows an example of predicted red tide track in November 2009. Apart from red tide, the same system is also applicable to other disaster response, such as oil spills.


When Environmental Protection meets Computer

Graphics, Part 1

Infrastructure projects such as the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (HATS), the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the proposed offshore wind farms and desalination plant, will have significant impact on our water environment. Therefore, it is essential to have a robust tool to quantify their impacts and environmental risks and communicate the predicted impact to the stakeholders effectively.

To achieve these goals, two key components are being developed within the 3D Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) module. The software system (code named “NOVA”) is intended to be an EIA tool for professionals, while the internet-based visualization system will deliver realistic 3D visualization of simulated results over the network. In this first of a two-part article, the NOVA system is introduced with a focus on the computer graphics and visualization technologies involved.

Rather than being just another hydrodynamic and water quality simulator for effluent discharges, NOVA is designed as a comprehensive system for water environmental management for Hong Kong. It includes features such as submarine outfall design, effluent discharge simulation in near and far field, 3D data visualization and GIS data integration. It is currently configured with Hong Kong's terrain and water control zones, but it can also be customized to almost any other coastal regions in the world.

In water EIA, numbers or simple charts are traditionally generated from the numerical model simulations to assess the impact of certain projects or events. This method is usually not very user friendly, and is therefore unsuitable for interactive assessment and communication. Since the NOVA system is fully GIS-integrated, it is designed to give users the

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most immediate and direct feedback through the use of many 3D graphics techniques. For example, the outfall can be designed in a “What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG)” manner with a proper GIS context.

Apart from the interface, the NOVA’s visualization subsystem employs state-of-the-art computer graphics techniques, such as custom GPU-shaders and ray-casted terrain rendering, whichallow the system to fully utilize the graphics power of the personal computers. As a single integrated platform for outfall design, model simulation, data interrogation and visualization, the NOVA system is distinct from the other similar systems currently available.

Simulated sewage plume from submarine outfall (left) and modelling diffuser with rosette risers (right)

Mixing zone

Riser

Nozzle

Principal InvestigatorProf. Joseph Hun-Wei Lee

Project Manager (IT & Visualization)Dr. Yi-King Choi

Co-Principal Investigator　Prof. Wenping Wang

Administrative Assistant Ms. Lo Hung

Senior Research Engineer (Modelling)Dr. David King-Wah Choi

Post-doctoral FellowsDr. Esam AwadDr. Jung-Woo ChangDr. Zhonggui Chen Dr. Jing-Qiao Mao Dr. Liping ZhengDr. Yuanfeng Zhou

Research AssistantsMr. Tree Chan Mr. Edmond Chui Mr. James Kuang Mr. Adrian LaiMs. Peggy LiMr. Wai Thoe

Project Manager (Modelling)　Dr. Ken Tse-Man Wong

Senior Research Engineer (IT & Visualization)Dr. Bin Chan

Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, HKSAR Drainage Services Department, HKSAR Environmental Protection Department, HKSARHong Kong Observatory, HKSARLeisure and Cultural Services Department, HKSAR

For enquiries, please contact us by email to [email protected]

Payment method:

By a cheque made payable to

The University of Hong Kong

Please complete and return this

donation form to

Project WATERMAN

Department of Civil Engineering

Room 6-32, Haking Wong Building,

The University of Hong Kong

Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong

WATERMAN Team

Supporting Organizations

Making a Donation to Project WATERMAN

Surname: ___________________________________________________

Given name: ___________________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Tel: ___________________________________________________

Email: ___________________________________________________

Donations of HK$100 or above are tax deductible.

Thank you for your support!

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waterman booklet p01 0621 · n 2008, the hong kong jockey club charities trust donated hk$29.76...

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