Lake in Bidadari Park designed to protect estate from flash floods

First-of-its-kind lake serves as natural retention pond amid climate change threats

- Shabana Begum

In the newly opened Bidadari Park once a cemetery, now a green refuge for people and migratory birds · lies a scenic lake that can also protect the Bidadari estate from flash floods.

Alkaff Lake is the centrepiece of the roughly 13ha verdant park which is nestled in the middle of the new Bidadari estate.

While it brings back memories of Alkaff Lake Gardens, which stood from around 1930 till the 1960s, the new lake has another, more practical function: To hold storm water to prevent floods in the densely built Bidadari estate during heavy rain.

The first-of-its-kind lake, engineered by national water agency PUB, serves as a natural and biodiversity-friendly retention pond to manage the growing threat of flash floods amid climate change.

Bidadari Park - inspired by Winnie the Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood has different features at every corner, from marshlands to thick groves to rolling hills.

With Alkaff Lake being the lowest point in the estate, rainwater run-off from half of the Bidadari estate will flow into the lake.

Designed to hold up to 40,000 cubic m, or 16 Olympic-size swimming pools' worth of water, its banks and nearby footpaths will be flooded when water levels reach 4m.

But before that happens, warning alerts and beacon lights will be set off to inform the public to stay from the lake.

On sunny days, the lake holds 10,000 cubic m of water, at a depth of about 1.5m.

Bidadari Park and Alkaff Lake were officially opened to the public on Sept 3.