In the webpage "Sustainability
Effort" (n.d.) taken from Gardens by the Bay website reported about the
key function of the Gardens as an ecosystem that is able to self-sustain in the
built environment. The ecosystem work by itself without many
maintenance issues to achieve environmental sustainability. This system is made
up of Lake systems, Conservatories and Supertrees. The Lake systems acts as a
biotope that accommodates the aquatic animals and plants which later help to
cleanse the surface run-off as well as the lake itself. Subsequently, the
cleansed water is discharged in Marina Reservoir and used for irrigation
purposes. Besides the Lake systems, the webpage also mentioned about the Conservatories.
The two biomes are equipped with advanced technology allowing it to simulate
the climate temperature suitable to certain region to accommodate rare plants
in Singapore. It is also mentioned on the webpage further about Supertrees.
These Supertrees are equipped with solar planes that allow to harvest
electricity in the day. Hence, it reduces the amount of electricity used at
night. Singapore should restore efforts in sustainability on built
environment as it can bring a good impact to the nature as well as the communities.
Eventually, sustainable effort is an alternative solution for problems in
developed countries.
In 2006, Public Utilities Board (PUB)
had launched Active, Beautiful and Clean Water Programme
(ABC Water Programme) to promote the importance of water quality in Singapore
as well as to appreciate of water resources. It is important to sustain the
good quality of water entering the canals that are channeling the water into
the local catchment. Thus, this will reduce the cost to treat portable water. Therefore,
the water agency in Singapore need to find ways to make the water quality
better in the drain, canals and riverbanks before entering the reservoirs.
Sustainability is the main idea of PUB as it require
less maintenance thus it create a whole new ecosystem in a community.
It is mention in PUB webpage (2016) that ABC water programme is to enhance the
water and life quality by combining the drain, canal and reservoir with
the surrounding environment. Hence, the garden is transformed into an
ecosystem which enable it to self-sustain. This concept is widely used in European
countries. It is mention in Susdrain (n.d.) webpage, a similar concept is being
applied to UK drainage systems which transformed it into a sustainable drainage.
This concept allows rain and surface water run-off to cleanse naturally by
allowing water to soak in the ground thus filtering unwanted pollutants. Thus,
it reduces the cost of water treatment as well as the construction a concrete canal
as mention by Graham
Fairhurst (February 2011).
Secondly,
this initiative is not only cleansing the water
runoff quality but also Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park (2014, Section
10) is a great example of PUB ABC water project which uses a similar concept to
Gardens by the bay. It is mention on PUB’s webpage (2006), that the
programme is to transform all the drains, canals and reservoirs in Singapore
into beautiful and clean streams hence bring the community closer to the
nature. This environmental sustainability effort can be made into smaller
scales such as parks near HDB houses as well as condomium, hospital and
schools. In this way sustainability efforts can spread widely across Singapore,
improving the ecosystem as well as the aesthetic of the environment. It is
stated in Water Programme guideline (2014, Section 10) that parks such
Bishan-Ang Mo Kio park and public hospital like Khoo Teck Puat hospital have
benefited from environmental sustainability concept.
Moreover, communities get to enjoy
the recreational spaces and they are more conscious about the nature. In
addition, these efforts would make Singapore a greener city. Because of this
reason, Ministry of Environment and Water Resource had initiated the 1st
edition of Active, Beautiful and Clean water guideline (ABC water guidelines)
in 2009 which encourages developers in Singapore to adopt ABC Waters design
features in their developments. 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, 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, the space is transformed into recreational area where visitor
can be closer to water and nature.
Finally, I feel that sustainable
effort can be a solution to couple of problems in developed countries such as
Singapore. Maintenance issues can occur for conventional (concrete) canals or drainage as it requires occasional upgrading works like expanding drain capacity.
This is because the amount rain rises yearly especially during monsoon season.
The drainage and canals also requires cleaning to prevent any clogging and so
on. Thus, this will reduce the quality of water flowing to the local catchment.
Therefore, it is important to establish the sustainable concept to the built
environment so that it can bring more benefit to the community thus reducing
the cost.
Reference:
ABC
guidelines (June 2014, Section 10)
Channel
News Asia (March, 2016) 20 more ABC Waters projects to be completed in next 5
years. Retrieve
from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/20-more-abc-waters/2619600.html
Graham
Fairhurst (February 2011) Comparative costing for Surface Water Sewers and SuDS
Retrieve
from: http://www.susdrain.org/resources/evidence.html
Ramboll Group (2015) Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park
Retrieve
from: http://www.ramboll.com/projects/singapore/bishan-park
Sustainability
Effort(n.d.) Gardens by the Bay
Retrieve from:
http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/about-us/sustainability.html
