Land use land cover (LULC) has altered dramatically because of anthropogenic activities, particularly in places where climate change and population growth are severe. The geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing are widely used techniques for monitoring LULC changes. This study aimed to assess the LULC changes and predict future trends in Selangor, Malaysia. The satellite images from 1991–2021 were classified to develop LULC maps using support vector machine (SVM) classification in ArcGIS. The image classification was based on six different LULC classes, i.e., (i) water, (ii) developed, (iii) barren, (iv) forest, (v) agriculture, and (vi) wetlands. The resulting LULC maps illustrated the area changes from 1991 to 2021 in different classes, where developed, barren, and water lands increased by 15.54%, 1.95%, and 0.53%, respectively. However, agricultural, forest, and wetlands decreased by 3.07%, 14.01%, and 0.94%, respectively. The cellular automata-artificial neural network (CA-ANN) technique was used to predict the LULC changes from 2031–2051. The percentage of correctness for the simulation was 82.43%, and overall kappa value was 0.72. The prediction maps from 2031–2051 illustrated decreasing trends in (i) agricultural by 3.73%, (ii) forest by 1.09%, (iii) barren by 0.21%, (iv) wetlands by 0.06%, and (v) water by 0.04% and increasing trends in (vi) developed by 5.12%. The outcomes of this study provide crucial knowledge that may help in developing future sustainable planning and management, as well as assist authorities in making informed decisions to improve environmental and ecological conditions.

One of the best management practices (BMPs) for stormwater quality and quantity control is a bioretention system. The removal efficiency of different pollutants under this system is generally satisfactory, except for nitrogen which is deficient in certain bioretention systems. Nitrogen has a complex biogeochemical cycle, and thus the removal processes of nitrogen are typically slower than other pollutants. This study summarizes recent studies that have focused on nitrogen removal for urban stormwater runoff and discusses the latest advances in bioretention systems. The performance, influencing factors, and design enhancements are comprehensively reviewed in this paper. The review of current literature reveals that a bioretention system shows great promise due to its ability to remove nitrogen from stormwater runoff. Combining nitrification and denitrification zones with the addition of a carbon source and selecting different plant species promote nitrogen removal. Nevertheless, more studies on nitrogen transformations in a bioretention system and the relationships between different design factors need to be undertaken.

Bioretention is considered one of the best management practices (BMPS) for managing stormwater quality and quantity. The bioretention system has proven good performance in removing total suspended solids, oil, and heavy metals. The nitrogen (N) removal efficiency of the bioretention system is insufficient, however, due to the complex forms of nitrogen. Therefore, this paper aims to review recent enhancement approaches to nitrogen (N) removal and to discuss the factors influencing bioretention efficiency. To improve bioretention efficiency, several factors should be considered when designing bioretention systems, including nitrogen concentration, climate factors, and hydrological factors. Further, soil and plant selection should be appropriate for environmental conditions. Three design improvement approaches have been reviewed. The first is the inclusion of a saturated zone (SZ), which has been used widely. The SZ is shown to have the best performance in nitrogen removal. The second approach (which is less popular) is the usage of additives in the form of a mixture with soil media or as a separated layer. This concept is intended to be applied in tropical regions with wet soil conditions and a short dry period. The third approach combines the previous two approaches (enhanced filter media and applying a SZ). This approach is more efficient and has recently attracted more attention. This study suggests that further studies on the third approach should be carried out. Applying amendment material through filter media and integrating it with SZ provides appropriate conditions to complete the nitrogen cycle. This approach is considered a promising method to enhance nitrogen removal. In general, the bioretention system offers a promising tool for improving stormwater quality.

In Malaysia, the Stormwater Management Manual for Malaysia (Manual Saliran Mesra Alam or MSMA) was introduced to manage stormwater and solve water-related problems. However, massive development caused the conventional stormwater system to be unable to cater to the excessive runoff and led to flooding, also affecting residential areas. This shows that there is an urgent requirement for a sustainable stormwater management practice (SSMP) in residential areas. This study is conducted to evaluate stormwater practitioners’ opinions on the proposed SSMPs, including green roofs, rain gardens/bioretention systems, and porous pavements, based on Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) factors through surveys and correlation analysis. The questionnaire was distributed to 14 branches of the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID), 14 branches of the City Council, and 28 selected private engineering companies. In total, 118 respondents were targeted to obtain their perspectives on the SWOT factors for each selected SSMP according to the Likert scale. The survey showed that the respondents agreed with most of the SWOT factors on the selected SSMPs. The results of the distributed questionnaire were used as the data for the correlation analysis. The analysis indicated that green roofs, rain gardens/bioretention systems, and porous pavements have a strong positive relationship, with a p-value of less than 0.05 for the Strength and Opportunity factors, and a weak positive relationship, with a p-value of more than 0.05 for the Weakness and Threat factors. This shows that the proposed SSMPs are suitable to implement in residential areas. Observations were conducted to obtain the residents’ opinions on the performance of stormwater management in their residential areas and to evaluate the suitability of the proposed SSMPs to be implemented in the observed areas. Based on the observations, it can be concluded that only rain gardens/bioretention systems and porous pavements are suitable when compared to green roofs. An interview session was conducted with practitioners in stormwater management to gain their opinions on the studies and the proposed SSMPs. The interviewees agreed with the issues and that the SSMPs should be implemented in landed residential areas.

The flow resistance of the existing modules in the bio-ecological drainage system (BIOECODS) is high and may lead to flood instead of its mitigation. As part of efforts to enhance the performance of the system, the river engineering and urban drainage research center (REDAC) module was developed. This study modelled the hydrodynamics of flow through this module using FLOW-3D and laboratory experiments for two cases of free flow without module (FFWM) and flow with a module (FWM) to understand and visualize the effects of the module. With less than 5% error between the numerical and experimental results, REDAC module altered the flow pattern and created resistance by increasing the Manning’s roughness coefficient at the upstream, depth-averaged flow velocity (43.50 cm/s to about 46.50 cm/s) at the downstream and decreasing water depth (7.75–6.50 cm). These variations can be attributed to the complex nature of the module pattern with further increase across the porous openings. Therefore, the technique used herein can be applied to characterize the behavior of fluids in larger arrangments of modules and under different flow conditions without the need for expensive laboratory experiments.