Land Reclamation

Land reclamation or Reclamation or Land fill or Land

Rehabilitation
It is the process to create new land from ocean, riverbeds or lake.
or
The process of returning disturbed lands to an improved state. For
example, in Alberta, Canada.
or
The process of reconverting disturbed land to its former or other
productive uses.
The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.
Netherlands: shallow water reclamation;
Singapore: deep water reclamation.
Notable examples of Land Reclamation
 San Francisco's waterfront and Financial District.
 The Hassan II Mosque in Morocco is built on reclaimed land.
 The port of Zeebrugge in Belgium.
 25% of Hong Kong Island.
 Nagoya Airport, Japan.
 Central District Beirut , Lebanon .
 The city of Mumbai, India.
 Bahrain - 76.3% of original size of 410 km2 (1931–2007).
 The southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen.
 Mall of Asia Complex and the Cultural Centre of the Philippines
Complex.
 The city-state of Singapore.
Artificial islands are an example of land reclamation. Creating an
artificial island is an expensive and risky undertaking. It is often
considered in places with high population density and a scarcity of flat
land, e.g. Kansai International Airport (in Osaka) and Hong Kong
International Airport.
The Palm Islands, The World and hotel Burj al-Arab of Dubai in the
United Arab Emirates are other examples of artificial islands.
The Flevopolder in the Netherlands is the largest artificial island in
the world.
Reclamation of Agricultural Land
• Agriculture was a drive for land reclamation before
industrialization.
• In South China, farmers reclaimed paddy fields by enclosing an
area with a stone wall on the sea shore near river mouth or river
delta. The species of rice that grow on these grounds are more salt
tolerant.
• Another use of such enclosed land is creation of fish ponds. It is
commonly seen on the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong.
• These reclamation also attracts species of migrating birds.
• A related practice is the draining of swampy or seasonally
submerged wetlands to convert them to farmland.
• While this does not create new land exactly, it allows commercially
productive use of land that would otherwise be restricted to wildlife
habitat. It is also an important method of mosquito control.
• Draining wetlands for ploughing, for example, is a form of habitat
destruction.
• In some parts of the world, new reclamation projects are restricted
or no longer allowed, due to environmental protection laws.
Reclamation of Saline Land
The land containing salts injurious to plants i.e. alkali salts is called a
saline or under extreme cases alkaline land.
Alkali salts include NaCl, NaSo4 and NaCo3. NaCl being the least and
NaCo3 being the most harmful.
The process of coming up of these salts and forming a thin crust (5-7.5
cm) on the surface after the evaporation of water is called
efforescence.
Unculturable land is made fit for cultivation.
First of all land is provided surface/sub-surface (Horizontal or
Vertical) drainage and ground water table is lowered below the root
zone.
The, saline/alkaline lands are reclaimed by leaching i.e. flooding the
land with adequate depth so that alkali salts present in the soil get
dissolved in water and percolate down and join water table or drained
away by surface drains.
This process is repeated until salts within the root zone of the soil are
reduced to the limit that some salt resistant crop can be grown.
High salt tolerant crops like rice or barseem are now grown on this
leached land for one or two seasons or till the salinity is reduced to
such an extent that ordinary crops like wheat, cotton, etc can be
grown.
When NaCo3 is present in the saline soil, gypsum (CaSo4) is generally
added to the soil before leaching and thoroughly mixed with water.
NaCo3 reacts with CaSo4 forming Na2So4 , which can be leached out
as explained earlier.
Dangers of Land Reclamation
 Soil liquefaction: massive destruction to infrastructure during
earthquakes.
 Land subsidence
 Sinking of drained marshlands during flooding
Seashore Restoration
Beach rebuilding is the process of repairing seashores using
materials such as sand or mud from inland.
This can be used to build up seashores suffering from seashore
starvation or erosion from longshore drift.
It stops the movement of the original seashore material through
long shore drift and retains a natural look to the seashore.
Although it is not a long-lasting solution, it is cheap compared
to other types of coastal defences.
Desert Rehabilitation
TECHNIQUES AVAILABLE:
* Control of sand dunes: Flood water is used to reclaim deserted
land, flattening sand dunes, thus controlling wind sand erosion and
creating farmland. Oil in areas of water shortage.
* Farming Practices: suitable crop types are cultivated.

* Afforestation: is an effective method used to enhance areas that

are affected by drifting sand. Air-seeding allows the distribution
of seeds into regions that would otherwise be ecologically
unreachable.
* Irrigation techniques: suitable and inexpensive irrigation
techniques are adopted. Plants are guaranteed to grow in all
seasons and the permanently wet roots prevent termite plagues.
Desert rehabilitation is a slow process. It is dependent on a
number of variable:
 The level of soil fertility.
 The financial services that are available.
 There is appropriate understanding and the right changes are
made.
 Preventing desertification is easier and cheaper than restoring
desertified land to its most productive level.
 Stages of Reclamation

Stage I- Planning
Identify the area to be reclaimed
Stage II-Environmental Impact Assessment
– Tidal flow patterns, water level, sedimentation and water quality
– Impact on sea life
– Erosion of main land and silting of ports
– Convince and get approval from Parliament
Stage III- Construction of sand bunds along the perimeter to contain
the fill
Stage IV-Placing of fill within the sand bund
Sand
Clay: Hydraulic fill or Lumpy fill
Stage V-Soil stabilization
Dynamic compaction if it is sand fill
Surcharge if it is clay
HYDRAULIC FILL- Clay slurry

• Contains mainly slurry with occasional occurrence of small

lumps suspended in slurry
• Apply surcharge to consolidate
• Double handling
• Cannot handle unwanted soil directly
Wild Shores of Singapore
 Reclamantion works began in the 1960s
 Reclaimed land is made up of sea sand
 Mega shipyard having massive harbours
 Singapore wants to add another 99 sq km (38 sq miles) over the
next five decades. Civil engineers say that would be costly and
require massive amounts of sand.
 By 2030, another 50 sq km is set to be added - so Singapore will
have expanded by a quarter altogether.
 Land Reclamation in Singapore-Some major projects

Vol. of
Year Site Area (ha)
sand, Mm3

1974-1979 Changi airport 750 40

1983-1986 Changi north 181 12

1985-1989 Tuas 637 69

1981-1985 Pulau Tekong Besar 510 28

1992-2005 Changi East 2086 272