Land Reclamation In Singapore

For the past century, Singapore has been undergoing a variety of developments. Especially in the urban department, this country has seen an increased demand for land. And as land usage was pushed to its limit, civil and environmental engineers had to come up with a solution.

So, they utilized the surrounding ocean. In this ocean, they took sand and clay from they floor, and made construction foundations with it. However, this material was not ready for construction, and was nothing like normal land. So, they had to utilize various methods to make this land fit for construction.

One of these methods is through deep cement mixing. With this process, binders such as cement are injected into marine soil. This cement combined with the moist nature of marine soil will lead to a solidified material.

To further the stabilization of this soil, the engineers need to remove water from it. They typically do this by installing drains over large areas of seabed. This accelerates the dehydration of the soil from the typical air-drying techniques.

There are environmental concerns of removing these seabeds, however. Not only may this remove the natural environment for many forms of marine life, the shift of land may also create (unpredictable) wave patterns. In response, engineers installed artificial reefs. This technology not only provides an environment for marine life but it greatly deters these shifts in coastal currents.

After this soil is installed, the new sites are ready for new developments. However, there is still the risk of water displacement, which leads to rising sea levels that may threaten urban environments. In turn, civil and environmental engineers created seawater intrusion barriers to lower these levels. Also, they phased this land reclamation project to effectively gauge water displacement.

In total, the Land Reclamation project in Singapore was an innovation in civil, environmental, and coastal engineering. With the combination of talents with these various field, this country was able to revolutionize land development. Now, reclaimed land makes up 22% percent of this country’s land area. While this scenario is especially unique, the land reclamation principles used can be applied to many large-scale developments. With the combination of environmental mindfulness and efficient integrations, civil engineers can utilize outside resources to create an effective foundation for their project.