Can Singapore’s growing otter population continue to thrive in an urban landscape?

The smooth-coated otters here have learnt to climb out of drains and adapt in other ways to living in an urban environment, prompting experts to marvel at the way the animals have flourished in relatively unnatural surroundings.
Monica Kotwani Channel NewsAsia 2 Jul 17;

SINGAPORE: They’ve been spotted splashing about in the waters of Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, foraging for fish in the Singapore River and even drying off on the artificial turf at the Marina Bay Floating Platform.

But more recently, Singapore's smooth-coated otter population has faced some difficulties: One otter died from suspected poisoning and another died as a result of being trapped in a cage.

With the local otter population continuing to grow, Channel NewsAsia spoke with experts on how the population is thriving in Singapore and the challenges the otters face as they spread further into people's living space.

OTTERS FLOURISHING IN URBAN LANDSCAPES DEFY "EVERY MISCONCEPTION": EXPERT

The locations that Singapore's beloved otter population have come to inhabit are a far cry from their typical habitats of mangrove swamps and forested rivers and wetlands. “They have broken every kind of misconception we had on how fussy they are in terms of where they stay because they are making do with just artificial structures,” said N Sivasothi, a senior lecturer of biological sciences at the National University of Singapore.

Mr Sivasothi, who is also known as ‘Otterman’ for his research and expert knowledge of these animals, estimates there are about 70 otters on the island, broken up into about 10 families. The smooth-coated otter population moves around to look for food and avoid danger.

And along the way, these creatures have amassed a big following of ordinary Singaporeans and tourists, fascinated at the ease with which they are able to interact with wild animals.

“I think people are very excited because there’s a very thin area between people and the waterway. That’s the interface zone and they get to see the otters very closely. And they’ve never seen anything like an otter before,” said Mr Sivasothi.

ECOLOGICAL BALANCE: ‘MAGIC NUMBER’ STILL BEING STUDIED

After decades of absence in Singapore, the smooth-coated otters were seen at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve in the late 90s. Since then, their offspring have been spotted on Pulau Ubin, at Pasir Ris, East Coast and now Gardens by the Bay.

Mr Sivasothi credits this to cleaner waterways and an abundance of food. “The otters turn to waterways where fish have reproduced without a predator. It is like a buffet table (for the otters),” he said.

“Prey availability is not a limiting factor and they are well-nourished and able to raise pups without a problem. You can see that by the amount of time they spend foraging.”

Otters also need large patches of land to spraint, or defecate, and dry their their fur to maintain their waterproofing. And otter enthusiasts and researchers like Mr Sivasothi are amazed at the way otters have been able to overcome physical constraints.

A video of an otter climbing stairs to get to dry land went viral recently. Mr Sivasothi said otters also seem content to dry themselves on comparatively small patches of land in Singapore.

But for the otters, just as with any species, there is a limit to how big the population can grow, say experts. And it won’t be too long before the otters reach that threshold.

Louis Ng, who is the founder of Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), explained what will happen when the population reaches this 'carrying capacity'.

“The population will balance when there’s no more food or some of them will starve to death and they realise that they have reached the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. But in Singapore I don’t think we’ve done the studies yet,” he said.

Mr Sivasothi agreed, saying the otter population has continued to expand, but at a slower pace. In the end, the otter population will be limited by not just the fish population, but their territorial space.

“There are rivers which are not occupied and they don’t seem to want to spend too much time in reservoirs,” he said.

“We are watching this unfold…If an area is already occupied, you can’t make your way in, you’ll be driven off and these territorial battles can be deadly so there is a limit to how many can be here.”

The fight for territory played out in public, after the father of the Marina otter family died. Days after his death, the Bishan otter family was filmed frantically sniffing out its rivals, possibly in a bid to drive them out of the area.

While their first attempt was thwarted by members of the public, subsequent attempts were more successful, according to otter enthusiast group, OtterWatch.

OTTERS A PUBLIC NUISANCE? NOT LIKELY SAY EXPERTS

The reemergence of otters in an urban landscape, coupled with the public’s affection to protect these creatures, has prompted some to question if the otter population could go the way of the long-tailed macaque population in Singapore. They are subjected to culling from time to time to maintain their population in a bid to prevent them from becoming a public nuisance.

“I was very surprised when people ask me that because it’s still early days,” Mr Sivasothi said. He said he does not foresee a problem as the natural size of the otter population through limited food sources and territorial expansion will ensure it does not go the way of the macaques.

Nonetheless, there have been reports of otters eating prized fish at hotels and other private properties in Sentosa.

Mr Sivasothi said that unlike macaques, otters do not eat what humans eat. “The macaques can eat almost anything that we can eat…observe us eating and realise that that’s a potential food supply,” he said.

“Then they’ll come to you and realise that there’s an action-reaction. The next thing you know, they are approaching people and taking food. With otters, they don’t eat what we eat. We can’t provide them what they need. They need live fish.”

WORK WITH PUBLIC AS WILD ANIMALS FLOURISH IN URBAN SPACE

What is important is for animal welfare organisations and authorities to educate members of the public about interacting with wild animals, said Mr Sivasothi.

In the case of otters, he said it's about driving home the message that otters, though attractive to most people, are still wild animals at heart. "For the novice, if the otter is having to look at you then you are too close," he said.

"When you go close, they will retreat and you are actually restricting the space they have in order to carry out daily functions. If you are interfering with them then you are interfering their ability to live a healthy life."

Responding to Channel NewsAsia, the National Parks Board said it is working with the Otter Working Group, which consists of academics, non-government organisations and Otterwatch, to monitor the population of otters. It is also carrying out educational and awareness programmes.

NParks said it has also put up signs informing members of the public on how to observe the otter families from a distance.

Mr Louis Ng said in educating members of the public, interest groups have to be pre-emptive rather than reactive, as has been the case when animals such as monkeys and wild chickens have been culled.

He gave the example of a housing development project in Bidadari, which has for years been “a prime wildlife habitat”.

"We really have to tell these people who buy flats in Bidadari that there is going to be wildlife in your backyard, we are having a whole nature corridor there so it’s not going to be one where there is no wildlife," he said.

"Right from the start, one has to understand that this is what you’re buying and then within the development measures, ensure that the conflicts are minimised."

With the greening of Singapore, sightings of wild animal such as eagles, hornbills and kingfishers are also becoming more common, said Mr Sivasothi. He said it provides an "excellent classroom" to learn about animals and their behaviour.

"In a very artificial environment without (previously having had) engagement, we as a population are very unskilled. As we begin to reconnect, we need time as well."

Perhaps it's the nation's fascination with its otters that will pave the way for greater acceptance and protection of all things wild. Mr Sivasothi said OtterWatch gets a lot of feedback on the otters' daily movements and their health.

Residents and long-time otter enthusiasts also advise tourists and passers-by on observing the creatures from a distance. The reward, said Mr Sivasothi, is when they get to see otters comfortable enough to perform daily activities right under one's nose.

"It is unimaginable to all my scientist friends from all over the world where these sort of images are typically what they get by laying out camera traps, while they watch through binoculars from a distance."

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Cool project underway: Singapore to develop road map to reduce urban warming

NEO CHAI CHIN Today Online 2 Jul 17;

SINGAPORE — An “ambitious” project that began quietly at the start of this year could bring some relief to Singaporeans who have found themselves wilting in the heat of a concrete jungle.

Temperatures are rising because of climate change, but Singapore is hotter than it should be because of the urban heat island (UHI) effect.

Cities tend to trap heat because of energy consumed, the presence of less vegetation and building materials that absorb and store heat from the sun.

In fact, the most urbanised areas here can be more than 7 degrees Celsius hotter than more rural parts at certain times of the day.

The project, called Cooling Singapore, aims to develop a road map for the Republic to reduce the UHI effect, said its lead principal investigator Peter Edwards.

The road map, consisting of long- and short-term measures, could be ready by the World Cities Summit next July, he said at an urban sustainability research congress last week.

“This is a matter important not just for Singapore but for all large cities, and Singapore could be the first city in the world to come up with a coherent strategy for tackling what is a very general problem,” said Professor Edwards.

Funded by the National Research Foundation, Cooling Singapore brings together researchers from the Singapore-ETH Centre, the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (Smart), TUM Create and the National University of Singapore.

The team has so far mapped Singapore’s energy flows. Hot off the press last week was the draft of strategies to mitigate UHI and improve the comfort felt outdoors by people. This will be refined into a combination of measures that would have an adequate impact.

“This isn’t just about putting the odd green roof in place. This is going to be ultimately a radical redesign of the city in terms of the shapes, the forms of the buildings, the building materials, transport systems and so on,” said Prof Edwards.

“And it’s not going to be done in five years. It’s the ... direction in which we must travel, otherwise the consequences of climate change, coupled with the growing UHI effect, will simply become intolerable.”

A UHI task force with representatives from multiple government agencies, such as the Housing and Development Board, the Land Transport Authority, the Building and Construction Authority and the National Parks Board, and universities has been set up.

The researchers will meet the task force on Monday (July 3), for a first workshop to discuss mitigation strategies.

The task force was one of Cooling Singapore’s goals because “we need to build a community within government which really understands the complexity of the UHI effect and can ... carry forward this ambitious project”, said Prof Edwards, an ecologist and director of the Singapore-ETH Centre.

The research project will conclude in about 18 months, “but we want a legacy of it to be a community that can really understand these issues and give them the priority they deserve”.

His team will also identify areas of research on UHI and develop tools to assess effects of the mitigation measures.

The 86 mitigation measures include: Green parking lots that trap less heat than the asphalt used traditionally, urban farms, variation in building heights, shaded bicycle lanes and well-ventilated pedestrian walkways.

Electric vehicles, with lower running temperatures than conventional ones and a lack of exhaust, would also help, as could smart shading devices using materials that can change colour, shape or density according to temperature, humidity or light.

Buildings should also be designed for heat from air-conditioning units to be released in well-ventilated areas.

Prof Edwards said that while no city has succeeded in cancelling the UHI effect, some measures such as green roofs, reflective materials and permeable pavements have been found to make quite a difference.

Active-mobility user Tham Chen Munn, who is not involved in the project, said roads and tarmac are a major contributor to heat, causing many people to feel that “it’s too hot to cross the road”. Mitigating this would require informed design and planning, he added.

Some road lanes can be narrowed to reduce the area of tarmac, suggested Mr Tham, a transport consultant: “This not only reduces heat, but streets will then be designed to be low-speed areas, which are meant to be safe for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.”

Reduced lane widths could also create more space for cycling and pedestrian paths, which, with landscaping, would make them more comfortable for cyclists, pedestrians and e-scooter users, he added.

A study published this year in the journal Nature Climate Change found that the UHI effect could more than double the costs for cities to address global warming this century.

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Jurong Lake district launches 15km cycling path network

Today Online 1 Jul 17;

SINGAPORE — A new 15km dedicated cycling path network opened in Jurong on Saturday (July 1), the eighth intra-town cycling path network in Singapore. It is the latest in the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) long term plan to progressively construct dedicated cycling path networks in all HDB towns.

Launched by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the cycling network winds its way around the Jurong Lake District (JLD), passing by Jurong East MRT station and its neighbouring shopping malls, Jurong Town Hall, Science Centre Singapore, and the Chinese and Japanese Gardens, as well as several schools in the area.

The JLD network is expected be integrated with the neighbouring Taman Jurong estate, which will have its own cycling path network by the end of 2020.

LTA has also increased bicycle parking facilities in the JLD, with more than 600 lots at both Chinese Garden and Lakeside MRT stations. The transport authority said it would continue to monitor the demand of bicycle parking in Jurong, and look at enhancing the provision of parking facilities at various locations, such as the major transport nodes.

To encourage rider safety and a “harmonious sharing culture” in the area, the LTA also introduced the Active Mobility Patrol Scheme, an initiative that has seen almost 100 volunteers from various grassroots organisations in Jurong forming teams to engage and educate the residents on safe riding habits.

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Miniature world of make-believe: Captivating tales come to life through wooden puppets

Lin Yangchen Straits Times 3 Jul 17;

Twenty years ago, two different things happened to two people that they never imagined would result in them becoming good friends today.

Madam Doreen Tan quit her job as a shipping executive to be a traditional Chinese puppeteer.

At the same time, Madam Ong Siew Fong's house on Pulau Ubin was hit by a huge granite rock that fell from the sky after an explosion at a nearby quarry and she was inspired to build a temple around the fallen boulder.

Madam Tan, 61, and Madam Ong, 74, now meet twice a year at Madam Ong's Wei To Temple in a remote part of the island to celebrate the birth or reincarnation of Taoist deities.

No festivity at a temple is complete without a traditional Chinese theatre performance, so Madam Tan and a few other puppeteers and musicians from the 15-member Ge Yi Ge Zai Xi troupe make the arduous trip from Singapore's mainland to the temple to put up the show to entertain, not only the devotees but more importantly, the gods as well.

On this occasion, the devotees were celebrating the reincarnation of Ne Zha, the prodigious child deity who could walk and talk at birth, on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, which fell on May 3.

The troupe's performance was titled Hangzhou Revenge. It tells of a married man from Hangzhouwho falls in love with another woman on his journeys and marries her without either woman knowing about the other.

When it is time for him to go home, he abandons his second wife to prevent his first wife from finding out. The second wife hangs herself, and her ghost enlists the help of a traveller to kill the unfaithful husband and his colluding brother.

In the end, the ghost arranges the happy marriage between the traveller and the first wife.

Simple as the plot sounds, the show ran on for a few hours - almost as long as a Wagner opera.

Although devotees were sometimes too busy with prayers to pay attention to the performance, the atmosphere created by the puppets' colourful costumes and graceful movements, accompanied by the lively singing in Hokkien and the music, made the spirits come alive.

Temple devotee Joseph Liew, 45, said traditional puppet shows such as this are made possible through the financial support of the temple's worshippers.

Mr Liew, who directs a construction company and visits the temple a few times a month, added: "It is a good place to meditate - there's no traffic and it's quiet. The temple has a kampung atmosphere and a spiritual presence that is hard to explain."

Meanwhile, Madam Tan said the challenge was performing in the proximity of giant candles and burning incense. This makes singing difficult as performers need to inhale large amounts of air to continuously project the undulating voices typical of Chinese opera singing.

The puppets, which are dressed in exquisite robes, are made of wood that comes from Zhangzhou in Fujian province in China, a country where puppetry dates back to a few thousand years.

About five years ago, the puppets cost $100 apiece, but now each puppet is about $300, said Madam Tan.

Troupe member Madam Tan Poh Hong, 63, said she got interested in Chinese opera and puppetry as a "curious and playful" 10-year-old.

The pay was low but food and lodging were provided, and she loved the way of life, she said.

"We had freedom, the boss was caring and taught us the trade. We were like family and went everywhere together," she added.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Members of the Ge Yi Ge Zai Xi wooden puppet troupe give a performance at Wei To Temple on Pulau Ubin.

http://str.sg/4aMM

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Malaysia: Community is key to turtle conservation

The Star 3 Jul 17;

KOTA KINABALU: Their flippers flailing, some 100 green turtle hatchlings made their way to the sea where they will spend a large part of their life.

The Kudat Turtle Conservation Society released these hatchlings Saturday, witnessed by around 200 tourists and villagers from Kg Bavang Jamal.

Project coordinator Norfazilah Rahman said the event was part of its efforts to save the turtles.

“In 2012, there were many turtles coming to shore to lay their eggs. But then, we noticed that the numbers were dwindling due to human activities, such as hunting and egg consumption. So, we decided to come together to save the turtles,” she said.

Norfazilah said although there was still much to be done to restore the number of turtles coming to nest and to increase the hatching rate, the society was confident that its efforts were on the right track.

“We have released about 4,500 hatchlings since our inception,” said Norfazilah, adding that its staff also carried out nightly patrols along the beach from Pantai Kelambu to the Tip of Borneo (also known as Tanjung Simpang Mengayau) to look for turtle landings.

The society, she said, was also educating villagers and fishermen on the importance of turtle conservation.

“We have seen a significant change in the attitudes and awareness of the local community in Kudat but we still have a long way to go to achieve our goals.

“The villagers will now also alert our members if they know of any turtle landing so that we can take care of the eggs until they hatch,” she said.

The long-term objective of the society is to set up 50 community-managed turtle conservation areas within the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park.

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Best of our wild blogs: 1- 2 Jul 2017

ButterflyCircle : Conservation and Education
Butterflies of Singapore

Field work – Counting sea urchins on the seashores of Singapore
Mei Lin NEO

Night Walk At Windsor Nature Park (30 Jun 2017)
Beetles@SG BLOG

Dairy Farm Diary
Winging It

ICCS @ Nan Hua Primary School’s EarthFest 2017: Learning about marine life and marine trash
News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

Wide Angle Macro Photography with Mirrorless Systems
Macro Photography in Singapore

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Singapore's not quite the right shade of green

Jose Hong Straits Times 2 Jul 17;

We like to say that Singapore is a green place.

From Garden City to City in a Garden, it is hard not to notice the flora that lines our streets and neighbourhoods.

And just last year, global design and consulting firm Arcadis ranked Singapore Asia's most sustainable city.


All this combined might make one think that we are a green place. But I believe that we are not quite the right shade of green.

The parks that dot the island provide a pleasant getaway from the daily grind. And our zoo and wildlife attractions wow visitors with the animals displayed within them.

But at the end of the day, they present a sanitised, manicured - and in the case of the zoo, costly - view of the natural world.

Singapore is so much more than that.

Did you know that in our rainforests live the sambar deer, which can grow up to 2m in height?

Did you know that we have seahorses that gently swim beneath the waves that lap against our beaches?

Or that the purple swamphen, a large purple-feathered, red-beaked bird makes its home in northern areas like Kranji?

I have seen all these creatures, yet whenever I tell my friends about my wild encounters, most react with surprise.

"We have that in Singapore?"

It tells me an uncomfortable truth - that much of our society today is far removed from the natural world.

It is not for lack of teaching. I remember my secondary school geography lessons, where one paragraph in the textbook mentioned Singapore having more species of trees than the entire North American continent.

But I wonder how many of those sitting in class with me all those years ago actually recall that. It is one thing to read a fact, and another thing entirely to experience it.

We are a country blessed by geography - for we lie in one of the world's richest areas of biodiversity.

Yet we have replaced the rainforest that used to cover most of the island with an urban jungle, one most of us do not venture out of.

Some may think that the butterflies, flowers and otters that pepper our built environment suffice, that they fill the nature gap in our everyday lives. However, they are but a pale reflection of the full experience, and the benefits we gain are much less than those the natural world can give us.

From an economic standpoint - and of course we start with money, for this is Singapore - the natural environment keeps our world running, doing things that would literally cost billions of dollars if we were to carry them out artificially.

"Ecosystem services" is what science folk term it, and although calculating the exact cost of these services is fiendishly hard, the basic principles underlying it make sense.

Mangrove forests, for instance, prevent storms and waves from eroding our shores. In tsunami- prone countries, they save lives.

The December 2004 tsunami that devastated countries fringing the Indian Ocean killed up to 6,000 people in a coastal Sri Lankan village. In another village that was surrounded by dense mangrove and scrub forest, the death toll was two.

For Singapore, a low-lying island surrounded by sea, rising sea levels threaten our existence, and we spend huge sums of money on coastal protection.

We have also reduced mangrove coverage from 13 per cent of our total land area in the 1820s to 0.5 per cent today.

"Prevention is better than cure," so goes the adage. And until we understand what we stand to lose by clearing our natural habitats, we should protect them.

I do not begrudge us the progress we have made, for we are now among the richest in the world. But our development has come at great cost to the natural habitats we are custodians of.
Another reason to protect what we have left is exactly because of what we have lost.

And we have lost plenty.

In addition to the mangrove cover that was wiped out, Singapore's rainforests are now 5 per cent of what they once were. Development has also reduced our coral reefs by 60 per cent.

Yet, despite all this, so much remains.

I cannot stress enough how often I am amazed by the wildlife I encounter whenever I venture into nature - those creatures that can thrive only beyond our manicured parks.

From the giant clams to the flying lemurs to that one time I saw a pangolin casually crossing a gravel path in front of me in Mandai, encounters with wildlife have surprised me over and over again.

This is a surprise and wonder I am determined to bring to others. That is why I am now training to be a nature guide, and why I volunteered at the recent Festival of Biodiversity, presenting specimens of our wildlife to families and their children.

For how can we know what we lose if we do not even know we have it?

Lastly, and most intangibly, the wilderness grounds one. While training in Brunei during my national service, what I most remember was not bashing up and down hills, or navigating with my heavy backpack, or doing foot drills.

I most remember the ferry journey to and from our camp. Our boat chugged down a tea-brown river, many times bigger than any I had seen before.

It stretched endlessly in front and behind us, and at its banks rose an impenetrable army of trees, the air beneath the branches shrouded in pitch black shadow.

Aside from the motor of the boat, a vast silence surrounded us. I stood on the deck, looking at everything around me, and felt almost scared, almost insignificant, and yet, at peace to realise that there was this immense natural world out there, and I was but one small part of it.

Though it may be hard to believe, I have felt similarly in Singapore, on an exposed reef during low tide with nothing but sea stretching to the horizon around me, with small waves splashing against my feet, the sun rising and painting the skies in brilliant hues of red, purple and gold.

I suspect this is partially a generational thing. Whenever I talk about my nature romps, my father occasionally jumps in to mention his life as a boy when he lived in a kampung, where he would do things like catching guppies in the drain.

Singaporeans lived much closer to nature then - and also much closer to poverty.

I do not begrudge us the progress we have made, for we are now among the richest in the world. But our development has come at great cost to the natural habitats we are custodians of.

Do we still need to do this? I think we should pause and take stock of what we have left, and move to protect it before it is too late.

Remember that geography textbook I talked about earlier?

After mentioning the number of species we had, it also talked about the need to preserve our natural heritage for as long as possible.

My teacher then, nodding sagely, highlighted "for as long as possible", saying this showed how we recognise that we cannot protect the environment if the development needs of the people trumped it.

Perhaps it is time for us to change our approach somewhat. We have thought for too long that our needs are above nature's.

We should rather protect nature - not because its needs are above ours, but because we need it to live.

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NParks investigating wild boar attack at fringe of Windsor Nature Park

Jalelah Abu Baker Channel NewsAsia 1 Jul 17;

SINGAPORE: The National Parks Board (NParks) is investigating the case of a woman attacked by a wild boar at one of its parks, it said on Saturday (Jul 1).

Madam Ting I Tsun, 55, a housewife from Taiwan, needed about 60 stitches for a wound in her right calf after the boar pierced it with its tusk, her son-in-law Kenneth Low said.

Madam Ting, who has been here since Jun 17 to visit her daughter who recently gave birth, was walking a dog at the fringe of the park in the Upper Thomson area on Friday at about 6pm, when the incident happened.

Mr Low said that the animal rushed out from among trees, injured her, then disappeared.

"She is doing well, except that she has a slight fever and is feeling lethargic," he added.

Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) deputy chief executive Kalai Vanan, who said that wild boars are "very shy animals" that would usually run away when sighted, called it an "isolated incident".

In this case however, the animal may have been surprised or felt provoked, causing it to charge, he said.

"The presence of the pet dog may have been a reason for the animal to feel provoked as well," he said, adding that wildlife conflict cases are rare occurrences in Singapore.

The location of this particular place is important to take note as Windsor is "at the fringe of the nature reserve," he said. He advised members of the public to give wild boars space to move away.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said that it was alerted to the case at 6.55pm, and upon arrival, found that the woman suffered an open wound. She was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, a spokesperson added.

NParks advises the public to remain calm and move slowly away from wild boars should they encounter any.

"Keep a safe distance from them, and do not approach or attempt to feed them. Ensure that young children and pets are kept away as they may be curious and approach the boars," a spokesperson said.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 30 Jun 17

Reefy seawalls at East Coast Park
wild shores of singapore

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Construction of Singapore's 4th desalination plant begins in Marina East

Liyana Othman Channel NewsAsia 29 Jun 17;

SINGAPORE: The construction of Singapore's fourth desalination plant began on Thursday (Jun 29) in Marina East.

It is the first dual-mode desalination plant, meaning it can treat both freshwater from the Marina Reservoir and seawater, depending on weather conditions.

Currently, freshwater from reservoirs is processed at eight water works across Singapore, while seawater is treated at SingSpring and Tuaspring desalination plants. On rainy days when water levels in the reservoirs are high, the excess rainwater will be discharged into the sea. But with the new plant, the water will be treated for use.

Designed by Keppel Infrastructure Holdings, which will also build, own and operate the Marina East desalination plant, the facility will be able to produce around 30 million gallons of fresh drinking water per day, enough to fill about 55 Olympic-sized swimming pools when it is completed by the end of January 2020.

"SLEEK MODERN DESIGN"

The Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant is also the first to feature green spaces that can be used by the public for recreation. All of the plant's water treatment equipment will be located underground, topped off by a green rooftop that can accommodate about 700 people.

Built on a three hectare plot of land, the plant will also be integrated with the Eastern Coastal Park Connector Network that bridges East Coast Park and Gardens by the Bay East.

This "sleek modern design" breaks away from that of conventional water treatment plants, said Keppel Corporation and national water agency PUB in a joint media release.

“The civil engineering component is very important in the plant because of the location, the type of soil condition we are facing, and also the way we want the plant to be low – to blend in with the park," said chief executive of Keppel Infrastructure Ong Tiong Guan,

He added that building the plant two or three storeys high would make it "stick out like a sore thumb".

While the plant will be able to treat both seawater and freshwater, they cannot be done at the same time.

During dry periods when the water level in the reservoir is low, water from the sea will then be channeled to the plant to be desalinated. Water from both sources will be filtered from the get-go, removing larger impurities before it goes through a “dual flow chamber”.

This chamber then pumps the water to the plant through a 1.8km underground pipeline above the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE). Such a system has been years in the making – a similar dual-mode technology has been in operation since 2007 at a plant in Pasir Ris to test it out before applying it on a larger scale at Marina East.

DESALINATION PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN WATER SUPPLY: MASAGOS

At the groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli said that desalinated water, as one of Singapore’s four "national taps", plays an “especially crucial role in ensuring a diversified and sustainable supply of water”.

“Water has always been an existential issue for Singapore. Climate change impact will exacerbate our water issues if we are not prepared," said Mr Masagos.

He added that Singaporeans are able to enjoy a reliable supply of water today, due to the country's "relentless pursuit to secure a high-quality and reliable supply of water."

"We need to continue right-pricing this precious resource, so that users can appreciate its scarcity value, and the cost of supplying water”, the minister said.

Desalination costs more than treating freshwater as it is more energy-intensive, but Mr Masagos said PUB is exploring technologies to reduce the energy consumption of desalination processes, to "moderate" the cost of water production.

A fifth desalination plant at Jurong Island is in the pipeline and will also be completed in 2020. That would bring the total daily water production in Singapore to 190 million gallons in three years' time.


World’s first large-scale desalination plant for sea and freshwater to open in Singapore in 2020
ALFRED CHUA Today Online 29 Jun 17;

SINGAPORE — The Republic’s first large-scale desalination plant that can treat both seawater and freshwater, which Keppel Infrastructure is building in Marina East, will begin operations in 2020, starting a new chapter in the nation’s journey to boost water resilience.

That same year, the fifth desalination plant on Jurong Island will also open.

The Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant, to be built near the Marina Coastal Expressway and East Coast Parkway, will be able to draw freshwater from the nearby Marina Reservoir, as well as seawater. Construction of the plant, which can treat 30 million gallons of water a day, started on Thursday (June 29).

The type of water that will be drawn into the desalination plant will depend on weather conditions. During wetter seasons, freshwater from the reservoir will be drawn, while the plant will tap seawater during dry spells. The water drawn will then travel underground, northwards, through a dual-flow chamber for around 1.8km, before reaching the plant, where it will be treated.

The dual-flow chamber will be located south of the Marina Reservoir, to the east of Marina Barrage. Above ground, the area will be built into a playground, said Keppel Infrastructure, which will own and operate the plant, on Thursday. The company is a division of Keppel Corporation.

The water-treatment plant will also be located underground and capped with a rooftop lawn, which will be open to the public.

Speaking to reporters, Keppel Infrastructure’s chief executive Ong Tiong Guan noted that since the plant and pipelines sit on reclaimed land, which is mostly made of clay, extra consideration must be taken in the building and excavation.

“The civil engineering component is very important in the plant because of the location, the type of soil condition we are facing, and also the way we want the plant to be low ... to blend in with the park,” Dr Ong said.

The reliability of the dual-purpose desalination concept was tested on a smaller scale at a plant at Sungei Tampines that was set up in 2007. That facility, which also draws freshwater and seawater from surrounding sources, is able to produce around one million gallons a day.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony on Thursday, Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli said the Republic’s demand for water is expected to more than double by 2060.

Hence, the authorities will be “ramping up our capacities of NEWater and desalination” so that these two sources of water can meet up to 55 per cent and 30 per cent of demand by 2060, respectively. This is up from the current 40 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.

“We need to continue right-pricing this precious resource so that users can appreciate its scarcity value and the cost of supplying water,” he added.

Calling it “another step in enhancing the drought resilience and sustainability of our water supply”, Mr Masagos said desalinated water “plays an especially crucial role in ensuring a diversified and sustainable supply of water for everyone”.

Desalinated water is one of the four sources of the water supply here. The other three are imported water from Malaysia, NEWater and water from local catchments.

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Singapore turns vacant space into urban farms

Reuters 29 Jun 17;

Resource-scarce Singapore is turning vacant pockets of land into space for urban farming as the island city strives to ease its reliance on imported food.

The wealthy Southeast Asian city-state imports more than 90 percent of its food, much of it from neighboring countries, which can leave it exposed to potential supply chain disruptions.

Edible Garden City, a company with a grow-your-own-food message, has designed and built more than 50 food gardens in the tropical city for clients ranging from restaurants and hotels to schools and residences.

One of its projects is Citizen Farm, an 8,000 square meter plot that used to be a prison, converted into an urban farm "where the local community can learn and grow together", according to the project website.

Citizen Farm produces up to 100 kg of vegetables, 20 kg of herbs and 10-15 kg of mushrooms - enough to feed up to 500 people - a day.

It's tiny compared with demand for food in the country of 5.5 million people, but it's a start, said Darren Ho, head of the Citizen Farm initiative.

"No system will replace imports, we are here to make us more food resilient," said Ho, adding that it was "up to the community" to decide how self-sufficient it wants to be.

Government agencies are considering the company's urban farming concept for other parts of the city, including spaces around high-rise public housing.

(Reporting by Fathin Ungku)

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Over 50 species of native coastal plants to be introduced at Coney Island Park

Today Online 29 Jun 17;

SINGAPORE — Over 50 species of native coastal plants, including critically endangered species, will be introduced to a four-hectare plot of land at Coney Island Park over the next five years.

The five-year habitat enhancement programme is a collaboration between the National Parks Board (NParks) and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC Bank), which will see primarily OCBC Bank management and staff donating S$250,000 to the fund the programme.

Among the species to be planted include the Small-leaved Nutmeg (Knema globularia), Silver Bush (Sophora tormentosa), and the Damak-damak Tahun (Scolopia macrophylla), which was believed to be extinct until its rediscovery on Coney Island Park in 2014.

NParks CEO Kenneth Er said: “(The Scolopia macrophylla) was previously last seen in 1953, more than 60 years ago. We subsequently found more individuals in its vicinity and took great care to conserve this rare find.

“OCBC volunteers helped to propagate more Scolopia saplings last month, so that we can re-introduce more of the plants here,” he added.

From May 31, OCBC volunteers have been partnering NParks staff to Coney Island Park to locate and propagate several endangered plant species.

OCBC Group CEO Samuel Tsien, who requested interesting and attractive plants be introduced as part of the habitat enhancement programme, said: “I want (our families, friends, and beneficiaries from our charity partners) to experience the excitement, and, for the older people, the pleasant recall of their childhood days – when they don’t have interactive cyber games such as Counterstrike, or Candy Crush to engage in, but interacting with the nature at parks and gardens which was part of the (growing) up process.”

Under the programme, more Scolopia specimens will be introduced to help re-establish a population. This, together with the other species, will make it the most diverse habitat enhancement project planned for the 50-hectare Coney Island Park since its opening in 2015, NParks and OCBC said in a joint statement on Thursday (June 29).

In turn, the seeds from the initial batch will help to regenerate and natural ecosystem and build plant diversity in the area, which will provide habitat for fauna such as the Rusty-breasted Cuckoo, the Spotted Wood Owl and dragonflies like the Sultan and Lined Forest-Skimmer.

Donations from OCBC will also help to add additional features such as trails and benches to Coney Island Park in a sensitive manner.

“Conservation requires long-term effort from everyone, and such initiatives to enhance habitats are integral to our overall plan to conserve our native biodiversity,” said Mr Er.

“This project will go a long way in helping the natural ecosystem of Coney Island Park to recover and thrive.”


NParks partners OCBC in plant-restoration project
Yap Li Yin Straits Times 30 Jun 17;

The twin-apple tree, which is considered locally extinct in Singapore, has been planted back on the island, using saplings propagated from a mother tree that was kept in a National Parks Board (NParks) nursery for more than a decade.

Also known as Ochrosiaoppositifolia, two saplings of the species were planted in Coney Island Park yesterday at the launch of a programme which aims to introduce 50 species of coastal plants there over the next five years.

The twin-apple tree produces a fruit that looks like two green apples fused together.

Launched in partnership with OCBC Bank, the programme is part of NParks' ongoing habitat-enhancement efforts under the Nature Conservation Masterplan (NCMP).

The NCMP, announced in 2015, lays out Singapore's biodiversity conservation roadmap until 2020.

NParks said the project is one of the most diverse habitat-enhancement projects planned for Coney Island so far.

Other rare species such as the damak-damak tahun (Scolopiamacrophylla) - which was believed to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 2014 - will also be introduced to a 4ha land area.

Prior to the launch of the programme, site assessments had been carried out by NParks to document and understand the health of the habitats, and to determine suitable restoration techniques.

The plants introduced will then act as seed sources for the subsequent regeneration of the natural ecosystem.

"While we are only working on a 4ha plot of land, this can become a catalyst for the dispersal of the plants to the entire island," said NParks group director of parks Chuah Hock Seong.

Staff volunteers from OCBC will be working with NParks on different aspects of the habitat-enhancement process, from the collection and propagation of the plants, to outreach efforts such as conducting learning expeditions.

The bank management and staff also donated $250,000 to the Garden City Fund, a registered charity established by NParks, to support this programme.

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