Checking out the water quality of Chek Jawa (27 Jun 09)

Another day of predawn awakening to perform water quality monitoring. I guess time and tide wait for no man since seagrass monitoring has to be done at low tide and us water people have to match that timing.

Besides almost missing the seagrass people at the jetty (some of us were late), the boat trip and van ride to Chek Jawa was uneventful. Maybe "uneventful" sounds a bit bland because the best thing about waking up predawn is the chance to see the sun rise. How many of us actually still appreciate such simple joys? I always relish the experience of witnessing the beautiful egg yolk climbing up the horizon on a cheerful day. (I enjoy and cherish beautiful sunsets too.)

The other great thing about being early is we have the whole seagrass meadow to ourselves! And being part of Team Seagrass, we get to check out the whole place without being restricted to the designated areas for Nparks led tours. Yes, guys and girls, if you want to really experience Chek Jawa in its full glory, join Team Seagrass!

I must commend my water quality team for their efficiency. They seem to be able to finish their testing faster and faster each time. Of course, further testing will have to done on the water samples they brought back to the lab. Let me compile the data from the various seagrass sites before announcing how they compare to one another. (Sorry folks, I will only describe the water quality in qualitative terms. The real hard data will be submitted to Team Seagrass and Nparks and published officially elsewhere.)

As usual, you may check this Team Seagrass post for an alternative viewpoint of this monitoring session.

Figures (L-R, T-B):
My favourite moment of each day - sunrise (actually on par with sunset);
Trying to capture a popular photographer's stunt - mirror image of the seagrass landscape (ok, it was a bit off but still a good try, right?);
The water quality team (Nuan Qin is the shy one with the head turned);
I couldn't resist taking this photo of Ria during her briefing with a soaring jet in the background;
A good low tide exposing the sandbar delineating (possibly protecting) the seagrass meadow from the sea;
An icon of Chek Jawa, you won't miss it and if you see it, you know you are there (anyone knows what tree that is?);
Late morning - crowds coming in for the guided tours

Singapore International Water Festival (SIWF) Environmental Quiz... at last! (19 - 21 Jun 09)

Good food, healthy turn-out and a few lessons in event management...

Yup, that is all I have to say about this inter-secondary school environmental competition organised by yours truly on a bright and cheerful SUNDAY (the caps are intentional).

I will henceforth let my figures do the talking (L-R, T-B):
Our MCs practising their scripts on 19 Jun 09, prior to the actual event on 21 Jun 09 (by the way, they did a marvellous job!);
Other helpers going through their designated roles on 19 Jun - you can certainly see that stress is not on their minds;
The actual day - student competitors in the front, teachers at the back (no, the teachers are not supposed to help);
A side event - my short and sweet poster presented at the concurrent exhibition manned by 3 of my students;
Dragon boaters in formation warming up for the competition (NOT my quiz but their dragon boat race);
The quiz finalists with our director in the customary photo shoot at the end.

Return to Binjai Stream (18 Jun 09)

After almost a year of absence, I have returned to this pristine and quiet piece of natural real estate to do some impromptu testing of the water quality. (The serenity was briefly disrupted by some grass cutters contracted to maintain the stream but of greater disturbance was the large numbers of half eaten durians left by durian hunters during this durian season.)

A brief background... you won't find "Binjai Stream" in any map or directory. Most maps won't even show that this stream exists even though Nparks has indicated this nameless stream on its signboard. And no, the name doesn't come from me. I got it from my good pal, Allen of Team Spreo who first brought me here. "Binjai" comes from the entrance to the stream near Binjai Park around Bukit Timah area.

Then why isn't Binjai Stream my favourite haunt for water quality monitoring? (See here for my favourite haunt.) To those who want to check out the stream, you have to overcome a major problem - landslides are very common along the stream, especially upstream of the "bridge". Together with the landslides, you have fallen trees and vegetation, forming an inpenetrable mess. (To those rambos out there who fantasise about hacking through with machetes, good luck...)

Actually, Binjai Stream was one of my monitoring sites in 2008. Yet, despite making at least 9 trips there (some by my students), it was never clear from beginning to end. You can imagine my hearty grin when I made my first trip here in 2009 and found it to be... CLEAR! (All right, I admit there were some fallen trees, vegetation and mud but these were minor inconveniences.) My group was indeed very lucky. Expectedly, this site has since been dropped from my monitoring list.


Here are some more interesting tidbits about Binjai Stream from my correspondence with Joseph Lai:

1. The source of Binjai Stream came all the way from Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (BTNR) up the side of Cave Path.
2. The trickle from Cave Path flows through a brick encasement to Senapang before reaching the upstream of Binjai Stream. There used to be a community washing point that resembled a square well with steps leading down to it.

You may also check out Serene's blog for an alternative account of the stream.


Figures (L-R, T-B): Fallen tree trunk - one of the easily passable ones;
We came across this odd patch of low lying vegetation when the rest of the stream is dominated by trees and shrubs;
The "Bridge" - downstream is usually clear while its upstream is usually NOT;
Clear waters running over a sandy bed; the true gems of the stream - a couple of mini waterfalls I have yet to see anywhere else in Singapore;
"end point" of Binjai Stream - according to Joseph, these steep cascading drains serve both the surface drains and overflow from the covered Murnane Reservoir nearby.