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Singapore PHYSICAL SETTING
Singapore is located at the tip of the Malay Peninsula
at the
narrowest point of the Strait of Malacca, which is the
shortest sea
route between India and China. Its major natural resources
are its
location and its deep-water harbor. Singapore Island,
though small,
has a varied topography. The center of the island contains
a number
of rounded granitic hills that include the highest point,
the 165-
meter Bukit Timah Peak. The western and southwestern
regions are
composed of a series of northwest to southeast tending
ridges,
which are low but quite steep. To the east is a large
region of
generally flat alluvial soils where streams have cut
steep-sided
valleys and gullies. The island is drained by a large
number of
short streams, some of which flow into the sea through
mangrove
swamps, lagoons, or broad estuaries.
The island originally was covered with tropical rain
forest and
fringed with mangrove swamps. Since the founding of the
city in
1819, the natural landscape has been altered by human
hands, a
process that was accelerated in the 1970s and 1980s. By
1988,
Singapore's land area was 49 percent built up, and forest
covered
only 2.5 percent. Three water reservoirs and their reserve
catchment area, which preserves a fragment of the original
tropical
forest, occupy the center of the island. Extensive land
reclamation
between 1965 and 1987 increased the size of Singapore
Island from
586 square kilometers to 636 square kilometers; further
reclamation
was planned for the 1990s. Hills have been leveled, swamps
drained
and filled, and many of the fifty-odd small islets and
reefs have
been enlarged or joined to form new larger islands
suitable for
industrial uses. In 1989 three of Singapore's five oil
refineries
were on offshore islands, and other small islands were
used for
military gunnery or as bombing ranges. Some of the larger
streams
were dammed at their mouths to form fresh-water
reservoirs, and the
major stream courses through built-up areas were lined
with
concrete to promote rapid drainage. Throughout the 1970s
and 1980s,
the municipal authorities made great efforts to establish
parks and
gardens as land became available and to plant tens of
thousands of
ornamental trees and shrubs, thus completing the
transformation of
the natural landscape.
Singapore is two degrees north of the equator and has a
tropical climate, with high temperatures moderated by the
influence
of the sea. Average daily temperature and humidity are
high, with
a mean maximum of 31°C and a relative humidity of 70 to 80
percent
in the afternoon. Rain falls throughout the year, but is
heaviest
during the early northeast monsoon from November through
January.
The driest month is July in the middle of the southeast
monsoon.
The intermonsoon months of April-May and October are
marked by
thunderstorms and violent line squalls locally known as
Sumatras.
The average annual rainfall is 237 centimeters, and much
of the
rain falls in sudden showers. Singapore is free from
earthquakes
and typhoons, and the greatest natural hazard is local
flash
flooding, the threat of which has increased as buildings
and paved
roads have replaced natural vegetation.
In spite of the high rainfall, Singapore's small size
and dense
population make it necessary to import water from
Malaysia. The
water, from reservoirs in upland Johor, comes through an
aqueduct
under the causeway linking Singapore with the Malaysian
city of
Johor Baharu. Singapore also supplies treated water to
Johor
Baharu, which in 1987 took about 14 percent of the 1
million cubic
meters treated by Singapore each day. Singapore has
responded to
this dependence on a foreign country for water by
expanding its
reservoir capacity and constantly urging household and
industrial
users to conserve water.
Singapore's rapid economic growth in the 1970s and
1980s was
accompanied both by increased air and water pollution and
by
increasingly effective government efforts to limit
environmental
damage. The government established an Anti-Pollution Unit
under the
Prime Minister's Office in 1970, set up the Ministry of
the
Environment in 1972, and merged the Anti-Pollution Unit
with that
ministry in 1983 to ensure unified direction of
environmental
protection. The new unit, subsequently renamed the
Pollution
Control Department, had responsibility for air and water
pollution,
hazardous materials, and toxic wastes
(see Government Structure
, ch. 4). Singapore first moved to limit air pollution,
closely
monitoring oil refineries and petrochemical complexes and
limiting
the sulfur content of fuel oil for power plants,
factories, and
diesel motor vehicles. Because motor vehicles were the
main source
of air pollution, the government required emissions
controls on
engines and reduced (but not eliminated) the lead content
of
gasoline. The government also acted, partly for
environmental
reasons, to restrict private ownership of automobiles
through very
high (175 percent) import duties, high annual registration
fees,
and high charges for the entry of private automobiles to
the
central business district.
Between 1977 and 1987, the Ministry of the Environment
carried
out a major program to clean up rivers and streams by
extending the
sewer system, controlling discharges from small industries
and
workshops, and moving pig and duck farms to resettlement
areas with
facilities to handle animal wastes. The success of the
program was
demonstrated by the return of fish and aquatic life to the
lower
Singapore and Kallang rivers. Singapore, the world's third
largest
oil refiner, also acted to prevent the pollution of
coastal waters
by oil spills or discharges from the many large oil
tankers that
traversed the Strait of Malacca. The Port of Singapore
Authority
maintained oil skimmers and other equipment to clean up
oil spills,
and a comprehensive plan assigned both the oil companies
and
Singapore's armed forces responsibilities for dealing with
major
oil spills.
Singapore's environmental management program was
intended
primarily to ensure public health and to eliminate
immediate
hazards to citizens from toxins. Protection of the
environment for
its own sake was a low priority, and the government did
not respond
to local conservation societies' calls to preserve
tropical forests
or mangrove swamps. The pollution control laws gave the
authorities
wide discretion in dealing with offenders, and throughout
the 1970s
and 1980s penalties usually were light. Enforcement of the
laws
often reflected an appreciation of the economic benefits
of
polluting industries and provided time for industrial
polluters to
find ways to limit or eliminate their discharges.
Data as of December 1989
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