Celebrate World Water Day with a coastal cleanup at Pandan Mangrove, Sat 21 Mar 2015: 4.00pm!

In conjunction with World Water Day, volunteers with the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore (ICCS) will be conducting a cleanup at Sungei Pandan mangrove on Sat 21 March 2015: 4.00pm – 6.00pm.

Registration for the World Water Day mangrove cleanup has closed! 

Thank you to everyone who has signed up!

What is World Water Day? World Water Day is a day designated by the United Nations to highlight the importance of water and to advocate sustainable management of water resources. Why cleanup? Humanity needs water and wetland habitats are an integral part of the water cycle on this planet. Wetlands habitats are especially precious in Singapore and trash causes adverse impacts to wildlife, releases harmful chemicals and are an unsightly presence we should not tolerate! Coastal cleanups are conducted by volunteers around the world to remove this trash, raise awareness of the plight of our oceans and waterways and motivate us to rethink our habits in daily urban living towards sustainable practises.

      

Sungei Pandan Mangrove: Sungei Pandan is a small but precious mangrove located in south-western Singapore at the mouth of the Sungei Pandan, and draining into the sea at West Coast. In order to protect this site, the annual ICCS was brought to Sungei Pandan mangrove in 2008 and the bulk of trash has been removed. However, there is still an annual recruitment of marine trash so year-round coastal cleanups like this World Water Day hope to address.

Map of Sungei Pandan Mangrove in relation to Singapore. The site we will work on is Sungei Pandan 2 (SP2)

Volunteers will be picked up from Kent Ridge & Dover MRT bus stops and transported to this Jalan Buroh B25 bus stop which will be our briefing and trash disposal site.

Itinerary

15:30 – Bus pick up at (1) Dover MRT – on the side of Singapore Poly) and (2) Kent Ridge MRT – Opposite NUH) 16:00 – Arrive at Jalan Buroh B25 bus stop and unload all logistics from the buses. Organize everyone into groups of 4, apply insect repellant, collect gloves, trash bags, ICCS data cards, and other required logistics. 16:15 – Briefing and identification of Trash Collection Point (TCP). Brief of wet weather plans (which is to carry on unless there is a lighting threat) 16:30 – Cleanup begins 17:30 – Transportation of trash to TCP (next to Jalan Buroh B25) 18:00 – End of clean-up. Trash is weighed and discussion/ reflection time. 18:30 – Participants clean up. No toilets or other amenities nearby so participants must bring a small amount of water to wipe themselves down. 18:45 – Bus transports participants back from Jalan Buroh B25 to Dover and Kent Ridge MRT.

Map detailing the meeting points at Dover and Kent Ridge MRT:

Things to note

1. Transport to Pandan Mangroves, gloves, trash bags and weighing scales will be provided.
2. For those intending to drive, do note that there are not public parking facilities nearby.
3. You must wear hard-soled covered shoes or booties to to protect your feet from hazards.
4. A change of t-shirt is recommended after a sweaty workout.
5. Long pants are recommended to protect your legs from insect bites and mud, but bermudas are fine.
6. Water-proof your belongings.

Things to bring:

1. Water bottle (with at least one litre of water)
2. Hat and/ or sun block
3. Raincoat/ poncho (we will work in rain)
4. Towel – wipe off sand and mud
5. Extra water to wipe yourself down

Be prepared:

1. Sleep early the night before
2. Have a decent lunch – it’s hard work!
3. Be punctual – we are unable to wait for latecomers; tide waits for no one!
4. Refer to this recce report of SP2 for more information on the cleanup site.

Thank you for caring for our planet this World Water Day!

Sign up here by the 11th of March 2015 if you want to join us!

We recce Lim Chu Kang East mangrove with NUS student organisers

16th July 2011 – early Saturday morning we brought three NUS environmental engineering students, Vionna Luah, He Miao & Derek Ang for a visit to Lim Chu Kang East mangrove, a tough new site they will be bringing NUS staff and students to cleanup on Saturday, 17 Sep 2011.

N. Sivasothi (North West Zone Captain) led us on the recce accompanied by Yang Yi Yong (their ICCS Site Buddy) and myself (the Deputy Zone Captain for North West). Three visitors, Randy & Taylor Yerick and Jerome Lim joined us for the recce.

We first dropped in on Lim Chu Kang beach and mangrove, the site of the upcoming pre-National Day cleanup on 6th August. The trash load is certainly high again and help is needed! It was enough for Siva to complain (and appeal) on the Raffles Museum Toddycats blog, “Argh! I can’t stand the trash on Lim Chu Kang beach!”

Siva asked me to direct the van to the Lim Chu Kang East mangrove, driving home the point of being prepared before a recce – well, I did manage to get us to the entrance at Lim Chu Kang Lane 9. During the recce, Siva discussed the use iPhone app, Runkeeper (he has not started using GPS MotionX yet) to track our route and generate a recce map with locations and boundaries subsequently.

His map indicates the key points for cleanuop operations:

1. There is space to drop off participants safely – the road is a dead-end here,
2. safety briefing will be conducted at the Assembly Area, a 10 minute walk away from the site.
3. Trash would be be weighed at weighing stations and later brought to the TCP.
4. Trash bags at TCP will be transported by wheel burrow to the TDP.
5. NEA will be informed to collection the trash at the TDP.

Map of the Lim Chu Kang East mangrove site

Walking to the site from the Drop-off Point

It’s going to be a tough site to clear!

Construction debris that the renovation contractor
of the nearby Cashin’s house must have dumped into the river.

The stream is not TOO deep actually – we tested the depth.
Photo by Jerome Lim.

The trash load along the coast is lighter than that of the stream.

We’ll take care not to leave too many footprints!

It’ll be nice to see the mangrove free of trash

The NUS organisers discussed the operations with us at Holland Village after the field trip – the very high trash load and the need for participants to be prepared for shin-deep mud means the recruitment and preparation of volunteers for this year’s cleanup will have be more informative about conditions. after many years at Krnaji mangrove, this is going to be a new and interesting challenge for them!

Links

• ICCS Lim Chu Kang recce, 16 Jul 2011 – photos by N. Sivasothi.
• ICCS Lim Chu Kang East mangrove recce, 16 Jul 2011 – photos by N. Sivasothi.
• Jerome Lim’s posts – “The forgotten shores” and “A lost world in Lim Chu Kang“.