Bedok Reservoir Park: DPSIR (Cont)
Continuing from the last post, the last major function of
the park is its Forest Adventure treetop playground. It has expanded somewhat
in the past few years with the addition of more courses and obstacles. But
besides that its footprint on the park doesn’t seem to be significant enough to
cause a widespread change of state of the parks trees. Also, this function doesn’t
seem to be in very high demand which implies little future expansion thus
resulting in little additional pressure on the park.
State & Impact
The key pressures exerted on the park are from water sports,
large scale event hosting and fishing. Without any actions taken, it is likely
that these pressures could cause a change in the state of the park. Water
pollution from motorized boating could render the water unfit for human consumption
and activity. The effects of such water quality degradation are likely to be
far-reaching as they affect all water related components of the park. For
example, the reservoir may no longer be able to supply water to households
nearby.
Hosting large scale events implies some measure of damage to
the environment due to the need to move heavy equipment such as tentage in to
the event space. The increased human presence could result in additional
littering which again leaves a mark on the environment. The impact here is
twofold, first there is environmental damage, second park goers may no longer
be able to enjoy the natural environment of Bedok Reservoir Park.
Overfishing reduces the natural stocks of aquatic life in
the park. This issue mainly concerns the biodiversity of the park as most
fishing in the park is for recreation. The thing about biodiversity is that its
effects are not readily apparent. A loss of biodiversity is supposed to cause
some measure of alarm due to the potential loss of future biomedical uses; the
possibility of the ecosystem going out of balance due to the lack of a specific
species. Future park users may also no longer be able to enjoy fishing or
viewing the aquatic life in the case of overfishing.
Response
The next question then is what have the governor’s of the
park done in response to all these pressures on the park. With regards to water
quality, it seems that the Public Utilities Board (PUB) does track the water
quality of water in reservoirs through a mix of sampling, sensors and quality
tests[1].
Thus in in the case that water quality has degraded significantly, the
authorities will act to restore the water to its original condition. I couldn’t
find out what measures they might put in place but I assume it’s some
combination of treatment and cessation of water activities.
Furthermore, there are some guidelines on water activities
located on the PUB website that are quite strictly enforced such as no littering
and swimming in the reservoirs. Operation of water vessels in the reservoir also
requires a permit which provides a means for authorities to govern the means of
water pollution from water activities.
Large scale events in the park require a permit from the NEA
through its booking system. This implies that the NEA has some form of control
over the type of events held and the frequency. Which allows them some lead
time to allow nature to restore itself before hosting additional events. I also
saw more than a few gardeners going around the park during my visit which shows
that the governers of the park are actively ensuring its condition remains
sustainable.
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