Best of our wild blogs: 20 Nov 17

Singapore got sea turtles! Learn more at Rushan's talk on 24 Nov (Fri)
wild shores of singapore

Butterfly of the Month - November 2017
Butterflies of Singapore

Giant African Snail (Lissachatina fulica) @ Upper Bukit Timah Road
Monday Morgue

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NParks razed vegetated plot in Bukit Batok for public safety but some experts are concerned

Audrey Tan Straits Times 19 Nov 17;

SINGAPORE - A once-vegetated plot of land opposite the Bukit Batok Nature Park was last month razed by the National Parks Board (NParks) over public safety concerns.

The plot of land had been covered with Albizia trees, which are considered vulnerable to storms and more prone to falling due to their brittle wood structure and shallow roots. NParks is now replanting the plot with native plants.

But the move has drawn concerns from conservationists, who worry that a blanket removal of vegetation could result in rarer species being cut down too, and also have an impact on wildlife.

Environmental consultant Tony O'Dempsey said: "I support the removal of potentially dangerous trees and I applaud the move to immediately replant the areas.

"However I would like to see a more analytical approach to tree removal where trees are assessed and removed only where necessary and with care so as not to damage the remaining vegetation...This is particularly important in areas such as this, where native animals such as the colugo, civet cat and flying squirrels are likely to be affected."

NParks' group director of streetscape Oh Cheow Sheng said decisions to remove trees are made in the interest of public safety after careful consideration.

In the Bukit Batok case, the Albizia trees with a treefall zone overlapping the road were removed together with a smaller number of dead trees and those in poor health. Three big, sturdy and healthy trees growing in the area were retained.

A treefall zone refers to the area that will be affected by a tree when it falls, said botanist Shawn Lum, a senior lecturer at the Nanyang Technological University's Asian School of the Environment. He noted that a falling tree may also cause collateral damage.

If a tree is, say, 30m tall, its potential treefall zone will be a circle of at least 30m around the tree in all directions, said Dr Lum, who is also president of the Nature Society (Singapore). "Factor in the extra distance a tree may fall or slide to if it is on a slope, or the fact that a falling tree may knock over other trees in its path...then a conservative radius of a treefall zone may be considerably wider than the height of the tree."

The importance of tree maintenance in Singapore was highlighted after a 40m-tall tembusu heritage tree in the Singapore Botanic Gardens fell and killed a woman in February.

St George's Church at Minden Road recently felled a 30m-tall tembusu tree on its premises after an arborist deemed it unhealthy. The church decided to have the tree inspected following the February incident.

Asked if NParks had taken more steps to reduce the chance of trees falling since the February case, Mr Oh said that the board has had a comprehensive tree management programme in place since the early 2000s.

"With the continued strengthening of our tree management regime over the years, the annual number of cases of fallen trees and branches has been reduced from about 3,000 in the year 2000 to about 800 cases in 2016," he said.

The Albizia, one of the fastest-growing species of trees in the world, can reach a height of more than 40m - about 11 storeys.

However, its rapid growth means that lower branches are shed quickly as they get shaded out by the branches above, said Dr Lum. "Given how massive the branches can be, falling Albizia branches are a real danger in areas used by people, in parks, for example."

However, Dr Lum said Albizia trees could be important to wildlife such as eagles that roost or nest only in very tall trees.

"While there is a real need to manage Albizia where people and property are at excessive risk, allowing Albizia, perhaps even encouraging it, in certain circumstances could be part of a holistic, ecologically aligned strategy for vegetation and wildlife management in Singapore" he said.

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Malaysia: Another Johor water treatment plant shuts down over ammonia pollution

Rizalman Hammim New Straits Times 19 Nov 17;

KLUANG: SAJ Ranhill Sdn Bhd (SAJ) was forced to shut down another water treatment plant on Saturday due to ammonia pollution, less than a month after closing three other plants in the state for the same reason.

The Sembrong Barat water treatment plant in Kluang was shut down for about 18 hours after the raw water source at the Sembrong Dam was found to contain an excessive amount of ammonia.

"The closure affected about 45,000 account holders, or about 225,000 consumers in Kluang," said SAJ.

The source of the ammonia pollution has been detected to the effluent retention pond of a palm oil mill in Jalan Batu Pahat, here.

State Health, Environment, Education and Information Committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat said the effluent from the pond flowed into Sungai Amran, which is a tributary of Sungai Sembrong.

"This caused the ammonia level at the Sembrong Dam to rise to 20 parts per million (PPM), which caused SAJ Ranhill Sdn Bhd to shut down the plant," Ayub told reporters after visiting the mill.

He said the Department of Environment (DoE), under the Environment Quality Act 1974 issued a notice for the suspension of the mill's operation licence for three months effective immediately.

"The mill is also facing a maximum compound of RM250,000 by the Johor Water Regulatory Authority (BAKAJ) under the Johor Water Enactment. BAKAJ has also frozen the mill's application to extract underground water," said Ayub.

He said the mill would have to make repairs and improvements to the retention pond before the suspension can be lifted.

"Hopefully, this will be a lesson to the mill as well as for other industry players," said Ayub.

Also present were BAKAJ director Mohd Riduan Mohd Ali and officers from the Johor DoE and SAJ Ranhill.

Meanwhile, SAJ Ranhill general manager of production and distribution Elias Ismail said the Sembrong Barat water treatment plant was closed at about noon on Saturday after excessive levels of ammonia was found in the raw water source from the Sembrong Dam.

The plant resumed operations at about 5.30am this morning.

"Water supply to the affected areas has been restored in stages. We expect the water supply to recover fully by tomorrow morning," said Elias.

Earlier this month, three water treatment plants along Sungai Johor, namely the Semangar, Johor and Tai Hong plants, were forced to suspend operations due to ammonia pollution, which was traced to an illegal fertiliser processing farm.

The closure affected two million consumers in Johor Baru, Kulai and Kota Tinggi.


Another Johor water treatment plant shuts down due to ammonia pollution
Channel NewsAsia 19 Nov 17;

SINGAPORE: Johor water supply provider SAJ Ranhill has been forced to shut down its fourth water treatment plant in under a month due to ammonia pollution.

In a statement on Saturday (Nov 18) night, the company said 45,000 account holders in Kluang would be affected by the closure of the plant in Sembrong Barat. This is equivalent to 225,000 consumers, the New Straits Times cited SAJ as saying.

Around 1.8 million residents in Johor Baru were affected after the company shut down operations in three plants in late October due to the high levels of ammonia found in their raw water from Johor River.

Following this, a chicken farm and fertiliser factory found to be polluting the river were closed by the state government.


Ammonia pollution hits Johor water plant, Singapore not affected
TRINNA LEONG The New Paper 20 Nov 17;

Water in Malaysia's Johor state has been hit by another round of ammonia pollution which shut down a treatment plant and cut water supply to 225,000 consumers.

Utility firm SAJ Ranhill said in a statement on Saturday night that raw water in the Sembrong dam in Kluang district was found to have high ammonia content and that it had stopped operations at its Sembrong West water treatment plant.

The plant resumed operations yesterday morning, the company told The Straits Times, and water supply would be restored to affected consumers in stages starting from yesterday evening.

A palm oil processing factory was identified as the source of the contamination, after the Department of Environment conducted a site visit with Johor State Health, Environment, Education and Information Executive Committee chairman Ayub Rahmat.

According to national news agency Bernama, Mr Ayub said the factory's operating licence was immediately suspended for three months to allow the factory operator to conduct cleaning works and ensure factory waste is not discharged into a nearby river.

Mr Ayub said he has also asked Johor's water regulator Badan Kawalselia Air Johor to impose the maximum compound fine of RM250,000 (S$81,435) on the factory operator.

Singapore was not affected by the plant's closure because the Sembrong dam is not part of the Johor River catchment from where Singapore draws some of its water.

This latest case of water pollution comes weeks after two million consumers in Johor Baru, Kulai and Kota Tinggi were affected by water cuts after three water treatment plants along the Johor River, also operated by Ranhill, were forced to suspend their operations over ammonia pollution. 
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AUDREY TAN IN SINGAPORE

Ammonia pollution shuts down another water treatment plant in Johor
Trinna Leong Straits Times 19 Nov 17;

KUALA LUMPUR - Water in Malaysia’s Johor state has been hit by another round of ammonia pollution which shut down a treatment plant and cut water supply to 225,000 consumers.

Utility firm SAJ Ranhill on Saturday (Nov 18) night said in a statement that raw water in the Sembrong dam in Kluang district was found to have high ammonia content and that it had stopped operations at its Sembrong West water treatment plant.

But the plant resumed operations on Sunday morning, the company told The Straits Times, and water supply will be restored to affected consumers in stages starting from this evening.

“Kluang consumers will get their water supply in stages starting late this evening,” said Elias Ismail, SAJ Ranhill’s general manager for production and distribution on Sunday.

A palm oil processing factory was identified as the source of the contamination, after the Department of Environment conducted a site visit with Johor State Health, Environment, Education and Information Executive Committee chairman Ayub Rahmat.

According to national news agency Bernama, Datuk Ayub said the factory’s operating licence was immediately suspended for three months to allow the factory operator to conduct cleaning works and ensure factory waste is not discharged into a nearby river.

Mr Ayub said he has also requested Johor’s water regulator Badan Kawalselia Air Johor to impose the maximum compound fine of RM250,000 (S$81,436) on the factory operator.

This latest case of water pollution comes weeks after two million consumers in Johor Baru, Kulai and Kota Tinggi were affected by water cuts after three water treatment plants along the Johor River, also operated by Ranhill, were forced to suspend their operations over ammonia pollution.

The pollution was later traced to an illegal fertiliser processing plant and poultry farm operating by the river in Kluang.

Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong said water cuts have become a norm in the district, with various reasons given for rationing, including upgrading, pollution and scheduled maintenance.

“At the moment the level of water stored in the water reservoir is insufficient to cope with demand during down time,” said Mr Liew in a post on his Facebook page.

“With proper planning, even if problems exist at the supply source, it would not disrupt normal usage,” he added.

Singapore was not affected by the plant’s closure because the Sembrong dam is not part of the Johor River catchment from where Singapore draws its water.

Additional reporting from Audrey Tan in Singapore

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