I visited Singapore in 1999 and was amazed at the cleanliness and efficiency of this city. Only when I visited some of its open markets was I reminded that I was visiting one of the most crowded cities on Earth. So it did not surprise me to see this article about this aesthetically pleasing water barrage that serves mainly as a means of flood control and storing freshwater, and secondarily as a recreational "green space" for the city's inhabitants.

According to the CIA fact book, Singapore has one of the highest per capita rates of oil consumption in the world. I found this while preparing one of my lab activities relating resource consumption to development and GDP. Given that Singapore is such a compact city with some of the best mass transit in the world, I was puzzled by this statistic and inquired about it at the Singapore embassy. They told me this could be attributed to Singapore's role as a re-fueling depot for ships going to and from Asia. This statistical artifact is common with small island nations and territories (like Gibraltar and the Virgin Islands), so dividing a nation's oil consumption by total population does not necessarily tell the whole story.