Today, as we all know, Lorong Halus is a wetland – a wetland created by PUB to purify the water going to the Serangoon reservoir. But, years before, it was not a wetland! It had different functions! Let’s take a time travel to the past and explore how Lorong Halus was used!
As a landfill
As a fishing area
As a biodiversity area
As a landfill
Yes, it is true. Lorong Halus was once one of the Singapore's sole landfill and was operated between the early 1970's and the late 1990's. It was 228 hectars wide. It is believed that this landfill was separated into few different cells on both sides of the Tampines Expressway. Waste such as municipal solid waste, construction debris, incineration ash, inert fill and stabilised hazardous waste were deposited in this landfill.
As a fishing area
As Lorong Halus wetland was near the Serangoon River that had lots of fishes, Lorong Halus was a popular fishing area among the residants. Common fishes fished here included "Giant Herring" (AKA Lady fish, Ten pounder or Sea Lotus) and whit Sea Bass (Barramundi) which weighted from 3 to 10kg.
As a biodiversity area
Just like today, few decades before, there was a huge wildlife at the Serangoon river. Birds like herons, kingfishers, terns were found at the river. And the area near Lorong Halus was considered one of the best bird-watching spots in Singapore. Monitor lizards and sometimes crocodiles were also found near the banks. Lorong Halus wetland was also a rich area of mangrove, rnudflats and ponds adjoining the Serangoon Estuary. During annual migrations, waterbirds in their tens of thousands used to swarm here to feed voraciously. These included some globally threatened species such as the Chinese Egret, Asian Dowitcher, Nordmann's Greenshank and Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Stints, sandpipers and plovers could be seen by the droves on the mudflats while scores of egrets and herons were to be observed feeding in the estuary, grasslands and ponds. It is believed that there was about 5 ponds in Lorong Halus which were habitats for plants, insects and other species.
As years went, a series of events held.
“Aerosol Cans could have triggered the explosion in the Lorong Halus Dumping Ground which killed a man….”
(News 5 Tonight, 27 Jan 95)
“The Environment Ministry says the volume of garbage disposed of at the Lorong Halus Dumping Ground has doubled to over four thousand tons a day. And the three incinerators at Ulu Pandan, Senoko and Tuas are running at full capacity at over 5thousand tons a day.
(TCS News,11 Feb 1997)
On 31st March 1999, Lorong Halus Dumping Ground (the last remaining landfill on Singapore's mainland) was closed and gave way to the offshore landfill, Semakau Landfill.
And today, Lorong Halus is standing tall with pride as a wetland, ready to serve its neighborhood residents!
And today, Lorong Halus is standing tall with pride as a wetland, ready to serve its neighborhood residents!
Information gotten from:
