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What I found most interesting about this article is Singapore's practice of buying an incredible amount of sand and using it to make more Singapore. I made sur

What I found most interesting about this article is Singapore's practice of buying an incredible amount of sand and using it to make more Singapore. I made sure to read the cited source because this claim sounded way too similar to some past Wikipedia edit pranks.

gkolli 7y ago
Unless I'm missing something here, doesn't that make sense (in the sense of the theft)? That the country would buy the sand to expand its territory?
- lainga 7y ago
  Sand Property is Sand Theft. Also, in the case of Singapore, not all of it was used to make Singapore larger, some was used to resurface Marina Bay (formerly muddy) with nice clean sand, so it could act as a strategic freshwater reserve
  - schoen 7y ago
    I've never understood how they got the existing salt out of the water in the bay there after they completed the dam. Is that clear to you?
    - lainga 7y ago
      It's fed by freshwater rivers, providing pressure pushing the water in the bay out to sea; and they open the barrage at low tide so that water flows out (thus why it's a barrage and not a fixed dam). And then close it again at high tide, so saltwater doesn't flow back in.
    - kenneth 7y ago
      It happens naturally. Add freshwater into a bowl full of brine, let it spill over continuously and pretty soon you've got almost only freshwater left.
      - thombat 7y ago
        Better yet, by performing succussions at appropriate intervals you'll create a homeopathic wonder drug.
whymauri 7y ago
Other examples from Florida, where Miami spends millions to replenish its beaches: https://bpr.berkeley.edu/2018/03/29/floridas-sand-gone-with-the-wind/ https://bpr.berkeley.edu/2018/03/29/floridas-sand-gone-with-... And there are some interesting legal ramifications w.r.t importing sand from foreign sources: https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0516/p01s03-ussc.html https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0516/p01s03-ussc.html
mensetmanusman 7y ago
I selfishly hope that the practice gets banned so that Singapore is forced to figure out how to engineer floating cities (they have the skill set!)
- ballenf 7y ago
  Wouldn’t that have a very different effect with regard to the country’s borders? The sovereign zone wouldn’t get extended for a large flagging dock/boat I wouldn’t think.
  - mensetmanusman 7y ago
    Maybe they could build underwater on the sea-floor?
SEJeff 7y ago
http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/39/built-on-sand-singapore-and-the-new-state-of-risk http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/39/built-on-sand... there are a lot of great articles on Singapore. Their entire economy ultimately rests on non-stop construction. Being an island, this would eventually stop, unless they continually expand! So expand, via sand, they do. https://www.smh.com.au/world/sand-wars-singapores-growth-comes-at-the-environmental-expense-of-its-neighbours-20160225-gn3uum.html https://www.smh.com.au/world/sand-wars-singapores-growth-com...
kleton 7y ago
You don't need sharp river sand for landfill. You can dredge regular sand from anywhere
- ryacko 7y ago
  Yeah, we could just dredge sand from poisoned seabeds around oil platforms with insufficient pollution controls.
  - adventskalender 7y ago
    Building on garbage dumps might not be the worst strategy, if it can be made safe? Garbage has to be dumped somewhere anyway?
    - growlist 7y ago
      Engineering of new refuse sites is pretty well understood and sophisticated these days, at least in most advanced economies. The bottom of the site is sealed with a multi-layer impermeable barrier, and any effluent 'liquor' flows down to a drain where it is tapped off for processing. Methane and other gaseous build-ups are vented through pipes at the top of the site. Subsidence due to settlement of refuse over time is dealt with by well-known construction techniques for less-stable ground, such as deep piling. In some cases though it's simply more sensible to repurpose the land for amenity use, where subsidence is less of a concern than it would be for a residential area.

gkolli 7y ago

Unless I'm missing something here, doesn't that make sense (in the sense of the theft)? That the country would buy the sand to expand its territory?

lainga 7y ago
Sand Property is Sand Theft. Also, in the case of Singapore, not all of it was used to make Singapore larger, some was used to resurface Marina Bay (formerly muddy) with nice clean sand, so it could act as a strategic freshwater reserve
- schoen 7y ago
  I've never understood how they got the existing salt out of the water in the bay there after they completed the dam. Is that clear to you?
  - lainga 7y ago
    It's fed by freshwater rivers, providing pressure pushing the water in the bay out to sea; and they open the barrage at low tide so that water flows out (thus why it's a barrage and not a fixed dam). And then close it again at high tide, so saltwater doesn't flow back in.
  - kenneth 7y ago
    It happens naturally. Add freshwater into a bowl full of brine, let it spill over continuously and pretty soon you've got almost only freshwater left.
    - thombat 7y ago
      Better yet, by performing succussions at appropriate intervals you'll create a homeopathic wonder drug.

whymauri 7y ago

Other examples from Florida, where Miami spends millions to replenish its beaches: https://bpr.berkeley.edu/2018/03/29/floridas-sand-gone-with-the-wind/ https://bpr.berkeley.edu/2018/03/29/floridas-sand-gone-with-... And there are some interesting legal ramifications w.r.t importing sand from foreign sources: https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0516/p01s03-ussc.html https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0516/p01s03-ussc.html

mensetmanusman 7y ago

I selfishly hope that the practice gets banned so that Singapore is forced to figure out how to engineer floating cities (they have the skill set!)

ballenf 7y ago
Wouldn’t that have a very different effect with regard to the country’s borders? The sovereign zone wouldn’t get extended for a large flagging dock/boat I wouldn’t think.
- mensetmanusman 7y ago
  Maybe they could build underwater on the sea-floor?

SEJeff 7y ago

http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/39/built-on-sand-singapore-and-the-new-state-of-risk http://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/issues/39/built-on-sand... there are a lot of great articles on Singapore. Their entire economy ultimately rests on non-stop construction. Being an island, this would eventually stop, unless they continually expand! So expand, via sand, they do. https://www.smh.com.au/world/sand-wars-singapores-growth-comes-at-the-environmental-expense-of-its-neighbours-20160225-gn3uum.html https://www.smh.com.au/world/sand-wars-singapores-growth-com...

kleton 7y ago

You don't need sharp river sand for landfill. You can dredge regular sand from anywhere

ryacko 7y ago
Yeah, we could just dredge sand from poisoned seabeds around oil platforms with insufficient pollution controls.
- adventskalender 7y ago
  Building on garbage dumps might not be the worst strategy, if it can be made safe? Garbage has to be dumped somewhere anyway?
  - growlist 7y ago
    Engineering of new refuse sites is pretty well understood and sophisticated these days, at least in most advanced economies. The bottom of the site is sealed with a multi-layer impermeable barrier, and any effluent 'liquor' flows down to a drain where it is tapped off for processing. Methane and other gaseous build-ups are vented through pipes at the top of the site. Subsidence due to settlement of refuse over time is dealt with by well-known construction techniques for less-stable ground, such as deep piling. In some cases though it's simply more sensible to repurpose the land for amenity use, where subsidence is less of a concern than it would be for a residential area.