Water resources of Singapore

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The water resources of Singapore are especially precious given the small amount of land and territory in Singapore's geography while having a large urban population in the city-state.

Without natural freshwater rivers and lakes, the primary domestic source of water in Singapore is rainfall, collected in reservoirs or water catchment areas. Rainfall supplies approximately 50% of Singapore's water; the remainder is mainly imported from Malaysia. Presently, more catchment areas, facilities to recycle water (producing NEWater) or desalination plants are being built. This "four tap" strategy aims to reduce reliance on foreign supply and to diversify its water sources.

1 Supply provided by water catchment areas
2 Imported water supply
3 Water recycle
4 Desalination
5 Conservation
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Supply provided by water catchment areas

Singapore's first reservoir is MacRitchie reservoir, which was built by the British in 1867. Subsequently, as Singapore developed into a modern city over the years, more sources of water were needed to sustain the city’s growth. Thus two local reservoirs were added to the rapidly modernising colonial city.

After independence, the Public Utilities Board took over the control of basic supplies including water. From then on, there have been many developments and improvements to increase the water supply for Singapore.

The 1960s and 1970s saw great development for Singapore. In order to maintain that, many big water projects were embarked upon to increase the water supply. Examples of these projects included the Kranji-Pandan Scheme, the Upper Pierce Project and the Western Catchment Water Scheme.

Modern Singapore sources her water from a network of reservoirs and water catchment areas. By 2001, there were 19 raw water reservoirs, 9 treatment works and 14 storage or service reservoirs locally to serve domestic needs.

There is also a proposal to construct a dam to build a Marina Bay reservoir at the estuary of three Singapore rivers, creating a huge freshwater reservoir by 2009. When developed, this will increase the rainfall catchment to two-thirds of the country's surface area. ^[1]

[edit] Imported water supply

For decades, Singapore has relied on import from Malaysia to supply half of the water consumption in Singapore. However the two water agreements that supply Singapore this water are due to expire by 2011 and 2061 respectively and the two countries are engaged in a dispute on the price of water. Without a current resolution, the government of Singapore decided to increase self-sufficiency in its water supply.

[edit] Water recycle

Main article: NEWater

Bottles of NEWater for distribution during the National Day Parade celebrations of 2005 at Marina South

NEWater is the brand name given to reclaimed water produced by Singapore's public utilities. More specifically, it is treated wastewater (sewage) that has been purified using dual-membrane (via microfiltration and reverse osmosis) and ultraviolet technologies, in addition to conventional water treatment processes.

There are three NEWater factories, located at the Bedok, Kranji Water Reclamation Plants, and Seletar Water Reclamation Plant, producing about 20 million US gallons per day (0.9 m³/s). About 6% of this is used for indirect potable use, which contributes 1 % of Singapore's potable water requirements of 300 million US gallons per day (13 m³/s). The rest of the water is used at wafer fabrication plants and other non-potable applications in industries.

A fourth recycling plant will open in Ulu Pandan at the end of 2006 which will more than double the capacity of the three existing recycling plants. At that time, most of the industrial use will be catered by NEWater. ^[2]

[edit] Desalination

On 13 September 2005, the country opened its first desalination plant by SingSpring, a fully-owned subsidiary of Hyflux. The plant, located at Tuas, produces 30 million gallons of water (136,380 m³) each day. The plant, worth S$200 million, is one of the biggest in the world and meet 10 percent of the country's water needs. [3] The plant also produces bottled water called the Desal H2O.

At the desalination plant, sea water is forced through plastic membranes with microscopic pores to extract dissolved salts. Silt is removed by dousing the seawater with chemicals that coagulate the particles.

Coinciding with the official opening of the desalination plant, the International Desalination Association (IDA) held its 6-day World Congress in Singapore. About six hundred experts and delegates attended the congress to discuss about desalination and water reuse. [4] Several experts suggested that Singapore could become the world's water hub for water recycling and desalination technology and could export this technology to the world including China. [5] Dr Masaru Kurihara, director of IDA, said that with the new technology in water reclamation, waste water would become the most important sustainable water resource in the future.

[edit] Conservation

There has also been campaigns to urge people to conserve water, aiming to reduce consumption 161 litres per day per person to 155 litres and suggested methods include spending one minute less in the shower. ^[6]