Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Kallang River- the river that used to be filthy

If you think Singapore river is the longest river in Singapore you are wrong. Though Singapore river stretches all the way to Great world city and to Queenstown as a canal there and it seems long enough, it is not the longest. Perhaps I'll prepare another post in future on the interesting histories of Singapore river and Stamford canal at Dohby Ghout (used to be Stamford river where the malay royals bathe and also clothes washing). Let's come back to this post haha.

Kallang river is the longest river in Singapore of about 10kms length from mouth of Marina barrage area way up to Lower Pierce reservoir at Thomson which has another story to tell about how Ang Mo Kio gets its name. Let's again not be distracted. Haha.





Went cycling with my brother last Sunday to exercise a bit but also to check out what this river has to offer. Compared to the past when this place was a filthy muddy swampy place of inhabitation, it is now much better relatively with water sports and kayaking. As mentioned in lectures, the rivers in the south of Singapore contains quite a variety of fishes and living creatures if you are not aware of. The river bed remembers anyone of its past... yes! Mud. And this place will soon contain water you will drink. Can we dig the mud out to clean up? It will worsen everything right? The questions are still hanging.


Again, if you think this place is lifeless, you are wrong.


Plenty of mollusc shells washed up showing the gradual positions of tides.


Molluscs of different kinds are found. Who needs to go East coast park to find nice shells to look at?


Coral bits are found. A reflectance of what lies beneath the river. The snails and molluscs are mostly alive. Be still and notice all of them moving.


The beauty of sunset.


Kallang river towards the mouth with the building of Ferris wheel in background.


We were at another spot nearer Beach Road. Remember, no swimming. Hehe


Couldn't remember and identify what is this. Any idea?


Did you notice the shell or actually something else more interesting? Do leave a msg at the tagboard if you wanna confirm with me.


Let's come back to the question that was hanging. Soon this is going to be part of the largest reservoir ever in Singapore. This is a very special reservoir as it stretches all the way to AMK and other places along the way. With the sight of enormous amount of rubbish and filth in this photo, and the possibility of chemical release in the river unoffically, are you prepared to drink water from here? What are the challenges PUB faces to create this largest reservoir? How much is our river affected by human activities like dumping or even the new kayaking nearer at the Bendemeer side? How much is our river ecology disturbed and changed especially after the barrage is built?

7 comments:

semilla said...

Hi,

I was searching for some info on the longest river in Singapore when I chanced upon your blog and writeup on Kallang River. I think you're doing a fantastic job on publishing the natural heritage of Singapore! Keep up the good work, and may more people become aware of the treasures concealed in this garden city!

yw

Kok Sheng said...

Glad you like it and thanks for the enocouragement :-)

3S1 said...

Hey dude thanx for info really needed it for school project keep on researching on kallang river

Unknown said...

hey thanks man this really helped in my school project :)can u do an investigation on the fish in the kallang river?

Unknown said...

thanks man for the good info :)can u do some research on the fish in the kallang river? no one seems to hav any info on the various animals IN the kallang river

Kok Sheng said...

Hi Joshua, You might want to approach the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research for more information on that.

Henry Leong said...

Beautiful shots!

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