Read Response Draft 1: Sustainability Effort

In the webpage "Sustainability Effort" (n.d.) taken from Gardens by the Bay reported that long hours of brainstorming is needed to make Gardens by the Bay a successful model of environmental sustainability. This is to ensure that the systems in the gardens are able to function and sustain by themselves without much maintenance issues. These system compromises the Lake system, the Conservatories and supertrees are inter-dependent to one another hence to self-sustain and achieve environmental friendly principles. The Lake systems acts as a biotope that accommodates the aquatic animals and plants which later on helps to cleanse the surface run-off as well as the lake itself. Subsequently, it is mentioned that the filtered water is then discharge in Marina Reservoir and also used for the irrigation purposes. Moreover, the Conservatories are equipped with advanced technology allowing the two biomes to simulate the climate temperature suitable to certain region to accommodate rare plants in Singapore. In addition, the solar planes installed on Supertrees are also highlighted in the webpage to enable the trees to harvest electricity. These efforts should be supported, as I believe it can make a difference to the current environment. 

It is also to help improve the ecosystem as well as the aesthetic of Singapore. It is an additional effort to make Singapore a greener city. In June 2009, Ministry of Environment and Water Resource has initiated the 1st edition of Active, Beautiful and Clean water guideline (ABC). This initiative is basically to encourage developers in Singapore to adopt ABC Waters design features in their developments. According to Channel news asia (March 2015), there are about 32 ABC water projects that have already been completed in Singapore and these similar projects are expected to increase exponentially. In ABC water guidelines ebook, PUB mentions that rain garden or biorentation swale such as Gardens by the bay will not only improve the quality of water but it is also to beautify the space with greenery. In addition, these spaces can set a creational area where the community can get closer to nature. Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park is a great example of PUB ABC water project which uses a similar concept to Gardens by the bay however in smaller scale. According to Ramboll, it stated that Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park was reconstructed from the conventional concrete drainage to bioengineered riverbank by incorporating the living plants to act as river walls. These plants are there to function as a filtration system as well as aesthetic of the drainage. Hence, transforming the space to be closer to water and nature.

Apart from Singapore, other countries such as United Kingdom are also implementing a similar concept of sustainable development in their country. According to Susdrain (n.d.), UK drainage systems are transformed into a sustainable drainage that allows rain and surface water run-off to cleanse naturally by allowing water to soak in the ground thus filtering unwanted pollutants. This is similar to the concept that PUB adopted. Moreover, water that comes into the gardens is controlled allowing sediments to settle down. This way it will reduce the amount of energy and cost to treat rainwater thus sustaining the drainage system by itself.

Reference:

Ramboll Group (2015) Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. Retrieve from: http://www.ramboll.com/projects/singapore/bishan-park

Soil bioengineering (2012) Advance in Environmental Science and Engineering. Retrieve: http://www.scientific.net/AMR.518-523.1795

ABC guidelines (2014) Retrieve from https://www.pub.gov.sg/abcwaters/Documents/ABC_DG_2014.pdf

Sustainability Effort (n.d.) Retrieve from: http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/about-us/sustainability.html