About a week ago, oil landed at Changi Creek in distressing amounts. Today, I had a brief glimpse at the Creek and the mangroves upstream.
The tide was high so it was hard to see low tide impacts. There was still sheen on the water, but it looks like the worst is over.
A week ago, I could smell the oil even before I could see the Creek. Oil had piled up along the shores and on the boom laid across Changi Creek. There were workers busy removing oil-stained sand from the beach. And putting absorbent paper on the oil.
Today, although there is still sheen on the water, I also saw many schools of fishes and worst of the oil impact was not visible.
Today, I noticed one worker spraying an oil soaked area near a tree on the high shore. Probably oiled when workers were removing oil from the Creek last week.
Changi Creek mangroves
The last patch of wild mangroves at Changi are at the headwaters of Changi Creek.
I had a brief look at the Changi Creek mangroves by walking along the boardwalk next to the road.
Similar to what I saw at Pasir Ris, it appears only a narrow band of the mangroves were oiled because the spill happened on a neap tide. Most of the leaves of the mangrove trees were nice and green. But there could be impacts under the high tide water. Will need to check again at low tide.
The Changi Creek mangroves have quite a lot of different species.
There is sheen on the water, but lots of fishes swimming around too.
Let's hope our Changi mangroves and shores are tough enough to bounce back from the oil spill!
Posts about the Johor Strait oil spill in Jan 2017
