Singapore Water Story – Summary Reader Response

In the article "Singapore Water Story" from Singapore Public Utilities Boards (PUB) website (2020), PUB explained the developing journey of Singapore's water infrastructure to meet the increasing demand due to the country's growth while providing economic supply for future generations. From the current 430 million gallons a day (mgd), the total demand is projected to double by 2061. To fulfil this condition, Singapore deduced three approaches: "collect every drop of water", "reuse water endlessly" and "desalinate seawater", developing the "four national taps". Accounting for the expiring treaty with Malaysia in 2061, Singapore focuses on maximising the efficacy of its remaining taps by funding research in treating all available resources. Considering Singapore's geography, NEWater and desalination are expected to meet up to 85% of future demand. Besides establishing feasible supply, PUB has introduced various plans such as "Active, Beautiful, Clean waters" to promote sustainable use of water, allowing the public to appreciate this precious resource.

Based on the article, PUB gave an overview of Singapore's four national taps with respect to its target audience and agenda. However, without highlighting the challenges, Singaporeans are less informed on the importance of water sustainability and the emphasis to prioritise NEWater and desalination. 

Firstly, being a tropical country, rain is bestowed upon Singapore almost any other day and funnelled to its 17 reservoirs via a network of artificial and natural waterways (PUB, 2021). An average of 2340mm annual rainfall, equivalent to more than 1000 mgd, makes fulfilling the country's demand possible even in 2060. However, the fact of limited land space to contain every drop proved this to be futile. Moreover, in the land-scarce island coupled with being highly urbanized, there are various considerations to balance land use. The hope of expanding the catchment area might be towards underground or to expand current systems' scope to double up as storage spaces. Examples are Stamford Diversion Canal and Stamford Detention Tank. Nevertheless, underground areas have their developments to consider as well and, to improve an existing system towards perfection tends to increase the cost exponentially. In a nutshell, local catchment has its limitation and is necessary to explore alternate sustainable solutions.

Secondly, for Singapore to fulfil 85% of future demand via desalination and NEWater, further improvement is required to be sustainable in the long run. These two technologies, versus processing rainwater, utilise 5-17 times more energy is unviable long term and can solely be addressed with technology (Tang, 2018). Additionally, it produces waste like brine and sludge as an after-product that requires disposal, causing other sustainability issues. However, due to the limitation of local catchment, investing in technology and conceptualizing ingenious methods such as the new Keppel Marina East desalination plant, where both seawater and freshwater can be treated (Tan & Ng, 2016), is the way ahead.

Lastly, the government's lone effort is insufficient; Singaporeans have a part to play and should be educated from young regarding sustainability issues. In the past, the thought of reusing water from our wastewater system was controversial as Singaporeans revolt from drinking their own waste. On the contrary, NEWater is more distilled than other supplies as there is significantly lesser organic substance than PUB water and is the reason industries find appealing (PUB, 2021). Singaporean can be enlightened holistically by exposing to vital information in a simplified manner and inculcating habits from young. By exposing to both sides, they can appreciate and conserve water, decreasing the supply.

In conclusion, it is evident that Singapore is on the right track to meet future demand independently. However, more research needs to be catered and it is essential for Singaporean to acknowledge that such precious resource does not come easily.

Word count: 607 words

Reference:

Public Utilities Board. (2021). Water from local catchment. https://www.pub.gov.sg/watersupply/fournationaltaps/localcatchmentwater 

Public Utilities Board. (2018, September 28). Stamford Diversion Canal and Stamford Detention Tank Go Operational.

https://www.pub.gov.sg/news/pressreleases/StamfordDiversionCanalandStamfordDetentionTank 

Tan, A. & Ng, K. (2021, February 5). S’pore’s fourth desalination plant, which can treat both sea and reservoir water, officially opens. The Straits Times. 

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapores-fourth-desalination-plant-officially-opens-can-treat-both-sea-and-reservoir 

Tang, L. (2018, July 6). PUB aims to double water supply by 2060 without using more energy or producing more waste. TODAYonline. 

https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/pub-aims-double-water-supply-2060-without-using-more-energy-producing-more-waste

 

Public Utilities Board. (2021). NEWater quality.

https://www.pub.gov.sg/watersupply/waterquality/newater