The Semakau Landfill is Singapore’s only landfill for waste disposal. It covers a total area of 350 hectares and has a capacity of 63 million m³. To create the required landfill space, a 7-km perimeter rock bund was built to enclose a part of the sea off between Pulau Semakau and Pulau Sakeng [off the southern coasts of Singapore]… was commissioned in April 1999 [and is expected to last until 2040].
- Signboard at Semakau NEA jetty
As if the excitement of the previous day’s trip to Cyrene wasn’t enough for a week, this was my first time to Semakau too. I wouldn’t have known this was Semakau, or that it was a landfill site, if I hadn’t actually known. It had none of the unpleasantries associated with waste disposal and management… nothing like a typical landfill in the UK. It was clean, green… and flat.
A 45-minute boat ride brought us from the Marina South Pier on the mainland to Pulau Semakau. Once there, we split off into our teams and together with our equipment were ferried in a small van along the rock bund to an opening in the mangrove forest that separated the landfill cells and the sandy shores. We trudged through the mangroves, and got out on the other side, the more unfortunate among us already itching and scratching from the mozzie assault.
After some initial difficulties in getting the transect line taut and straightened and laid according to the given bearing, the seagrass survey went quite smoothly.
The sky was overcast and it had rained a little earlier in the day, so we were grateful that not a drop was drizzled when we were out there. There was a beautiful sunset, too, its colours reflected in the pools of still water during the low tide.
Photos:
Links:
- The day’s trip on the Team Seagrass blog
- More of the same on the Wildshores blog
- Wiki article on Semakau
- NEA Master Plan for Semakau
- Project Semakau website
