No good place for field work? Finally settled on a new location...

I recently conducted water quality monitoring (WQM) workshop for teachers in a secondary school. Naturally, field work is part of the workshop's curriculum. However, I experienced a knotty issue in finding a suitable location in good old SG.

Here are some of the potential sites and why they were not selected.

Figure: Alexandra Canal - much of this upstream portion was fenced up and under construction

Figure: Alexandra Canal further downstream. Highly inaccessible with a a few metres down from ground level. No way I am climbing down there.

Heard about what a great place Berlayar Creek was. Finally took some time to check its suitability for field work.

Figure: Berlayar Creek is a nice mangrove stream leading to the sea. But it is not accessible without going through some serious mud and probably getting stuck. It sounds fun but may not be so appropriate for a group new to WQM and not used to bashing through the wild. In addition, I am not in favour of disturbing the ecology there by getting a group of humans fumbling through the place.

West Coast Park is another nice place that I have been visiting for years, either for WQM or biodiversity survey. Accessible, safe yet natural enough. What's not to like about it?

Figure: Photo of West Coast Park taken a few years back. Guess what? This nice brackish water body is now fenced off for renovation! I don't have a photo of it now though.

Ngee Ann Stream - one of my favourite locations of all time! Regrettably, I haven't been there for years and the last time I went, there were construction and development in one of the last bastions of nature in SG.

Regrettably again, I did not take any photos but unbelievably, the first part of Ngee Ann Stream (just opposite Ngee Ann Polytechnic) was hopelessly overgrown with vegetation! Without some heavy bashing or getting one wet in the stream itself, it was pretty impassable. Another dead end to finding a place for field work!

Finally....

a place further than normally I would go with a big group....

Kallang River @ Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park

The river itself is mostly accessible. Toilets and shelters nearby. No need for bashing through. Some mud is unavoidable but not a problem. (Hey, this is field work, remember?)

Amazingly, there are even designated water sampling points!!! Stone paths leading down to the water edge clear of vegetation. Sounds too good to be true. (Read to the end of this post for an unforseen problem - something no recce would have uncovered.)

Figure: Bishan-AMK Park. This spot is not a designated WQM station but it is easy enough to access by the bank. Alternatively, a depth sampler can be released on the bridge to sample water right in the middle of the river.

Figure: Depth sampler. Quite bulky to carry around in its casing but immensely useful for sampling water from a bridge, jetty or in a boat. The yellow reel holds a rope which is marked along its length to measure the depth the sampling cylinder is submerged.

Figure: 1 of the designated sampling spot in Bishan-AMK Park. Paved stones leading down to the water edge.

Figure: WQM is not just for students. Teacher have to get their hands wet and dirty too. Testing the water sample for nutrients, hardness and other WQ parameters. The shade from this shelter was a bonus.

If you have been reading this far, you deserve to know a problem we encountered when we did the actual field work. (I assume you did not jump straight to the end here just to find out.) 

While we were thick in the middle of WQM by the water's edge, a security staff (Gosh, we have Cisco security in parks now!) came up to chase us off because Lower Peirce Reservoir was upstream of us and it was going to open its dam to release water into Kallang River. For our own safety, we have to climb up the slope beyond the safety markers which were some distance away from the water.

Too bad but safety always come first. We did manage to collect some water samples for further testing under the shade of shelters so it was not a total loss for us.

Advice on purchasing water testing kit for JCU Singapore

I found your blog online whilst looking for water testing equipment. I hope you don't mind me contacting you! 

I am a sessional lecturer at JCU Singapore and teach a first year subject called Environmental Processes and Global Change. It is essentially an introductory amalgam of geography and ecology. I take my students on at least two field trips (and a 3rd if we have time and the weather is kind to us!) Last year, for one trip, we went around the corner to Bishan Park to do a number of activities, including water quality testing. The kit I used was borrowed from (removed by blog owner) and was really far too basic for our needs (although none of the students had ever done ANY field work before so it was still fun). I would like to order a kit for the department (we don't have one yet), preferably one that has a number of options and could be used for other subjects (e.g., marine science, aquaculture etc). 

Do you know of a brand / local supplier you could recommend? Ideally it would be robust (come in a lightweight case) and give accurate enough data to compare DO, pH, salinity, temp etc between locations. I have found a kit online from a company based at Ubi Ave (bksna.com.sg), but would appreciate any recommendations or advice before I go any further!

It would be nice to touch base with you anyway, as it seems we may be teaching similar subjects.

Kind Regards,

M


Hi M,

Glad to see that you bring your students for field trips. I always believe that our students don't go out of their classroom enough. There are of course logistics and safety to be concerned with but something suitable can usually arranged.

Previously, I minimise mentioning about companies, brands and models as I don't want to be seen to be endorsing them. However, there had been many requests from my readers to recommend vendors and equipment to them, whether for water filtration, water quality monitoring (WQM) or water engineering. I realise that I am doing a disservice to you by withholding such information.

But first my caveat: throughout my blog, any recommendation of companies, brands, models is purely based on my experience and knowledge. Unless stated explicitly, I am in no way affiliated to them and derive no benefits from recommending them.

You may want to read my book "Your first guide to water quality monitoring in Singapore" for a description of the WQM equipment that I have used. It is available online free at PUB's website.

There are actually many distributors of many brands of water testing equipment in Singapore but the following are the few I have worked with and feel comfortable enough to recommend.

1. Most of the equipment comes from the brand, Aqualytic. Local distributor is Quantum Technologies Global Pte Ltd.
2. The Hach series of products (including test strips) is also very good as it is a very established supplier in the area of water testing. Local distributor is Fluke South East Asia Pte Ltd.
3. The YSI brand is also very reputable and their products are usually designed tough for field work. One distributor is Spectra-Teknik.

I am not sure about bksna as I have never used their equipment before or heard any reviews about them. Still, you can go ahead to check out their specs and prices and compare to the others above.

Good luck!