How the government tackle the water consumption problem

Water, one of the most precious resources in Singapore, is one of the most tapped resources by our people. In the 1950’s, the demand for water was around 142,000 cubic metres per day for our population of about a million people. Now the consumption rate has gone up nine times whereas the population growth increase four times. It is obvious that as our population slowly grows, the amount of water needed to sustain our daily needs escalates as well. Knowing that our nation can’t just rely on importing water and our reservoirs to meet our daily needs, our government came up with a few solutions to improve the situation. Some of these solutions include the Marina Barrage, the desalination of seawater to drinking water and reclamation of used water (NEWater) plus campaigns to promote the importance of water saving.

One of Singapore’s main sources of water supply comes from the reservoirs. In order to increase the local water supplies the government came up with the Marina Barrage. The Marina Barrage is a dam that's under construction by the government across the Marina Channel. It acts as a tide barrier and at the same time creates a fresh water reservoir in the Marina Basin. This new Reservoir will add to the local water supply and increase the water’s catchment from half to two-thirds of Singapore’s supply providing more fresh water.

Other sources that the government is trying to tap are: seawater and used water. First, by putting seawater through a process called desalination, the seawater can be filtered into water for use as additional water supply. Secondly, it is possible to reclaim used water using advanced membrane technology. This reclaimed water (or NEWater) is ultra clean; having been through multi-barrier processes of micro-filtration, reverse osmosis and ultra-violet disinfection. NEWater also provides a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution to increasing water demand.

Besides searching for new water sources, the government also organize campaigns like the ‘save water’ campaign to raise the awareness of citizens on how important it is to save water. Commercials about saving water are also shown on TV. The government also publish websites the "10 Litre Challenge" that educates people on how to save water in a innovative way.

As the government works hard to find more ways to meet the demand of water in our raising population, we as citizens can play a part to and help lower the demand of water by practicing water saving habits. If we work hand in hand, I believe that the water consumption problem will eventually be solved.

Post edited by Justin Wong.