Dear Friends,
This week, Eco Club of ITE College came to Marina Reservoir for their environmental day camp and 20 of them did Kayak Waterway Clean-up with WWS. On Sunday, 13 participants from Hougang Sports Center did a Bike Waterway Clean-up around Marina Reservoir. At Lakeside branch, we held an orientation familiarization session for three drivers from Marina and Punggol, and followed by boat training for four new drivers of lakeside branch. There was also a boat and bike patrol this weekend at Lakeside (see photos), a total of 20 members were present. On the other hand, four members did boat and kayak patrol at Punggol on Wednesday and on Friday one members did a buggy patrol. At Marina, eight members did kayak patrol and four members did bike patrol on Saturday, and eleven members turned up for bike and boat patrol plus gardening on Sunday.
The Punggol Waterways was clean and quiet this week. There was no stray dog and wild boar sighted and no litter for both weekdays and weekends. Pigeon droppings stained the area under Punggol Road Bridge as usual. Two engagements were given to three individuals on illegal fishing.
On Saturday, bike patrol at Kallang found two abandoned bicycles at Tanjong Rhu and lots of litter under Shears Benjamin’s Bridge on the Tanjong Rhu side (see photos). They also came across a disappointing and disgraceful scene at the floating platform. There was a BMT Graduation Ceremony and lots of litter found, including plastic bottles, ponchos and even military caps (see photo), all cleared by our patrol members. One begins to question ‘what is Total Defence’? Having a safe and clean environment is another form of defense towards the unseen enemy. Today’s patrol consisted of one full-time young SAF staff and three fathers.
On Sunday morning, park areas around Marina Reservoir were relatively clean and quiet, probably due to the slight drizzle. However, lots of plastic bags, bottles and other trash found in water at Marina Bay, believed due to over flow of drains from various inland lead to heavy hold up. Boat patrol members picked up bout 8kg of trash. Many dead fishes found along the way up Marina Channel, one of the dead fish found to be suffocated in a plastic bag. At Jurong Lakeside Garden, bike patrol members picked up 6kg of rubbish from the shore near Fusion Spoon Restaurant and Water Playground and another 5kg beside the fishing decks (see photos). At the same time, they also advised fisherman and kids that fishing at the rocky slop to look after their own safety. The boat patrol also picked up 1kg from water (see photos).
