The Ministry of Environment and Water Resources directs domestic water policy.
Singapore experiences ample year-round rainfall, but is water-scarce due to insufficient land to collect and store water. This inability to collect and store water is exacerbated by a lack of groundwater reserves. Singapore has four sources of water: imported water from Malaysia under the 1961 and 1962 Water Agreements, water collected from local catchments that is harvested from storm water, high-grade purified water from five NEWater plants, and desalinated water from Asia’s largest reverse-osmosis desalination plant. Historically there has been a high reliance on water from the neighboring province of Johor in Malaysia, but this source will be insufficient as Singapore's expected water demand doubles in the long run due to projected increases in industrial activities and Singapore’s population growth. Singapore is increasing water catchment to cover 90% of its land area, but this will still not be enough to meet future demand. NEWater and desalinated water operations will be expanded to meet 80% of future water needs, despite its energy-intensive production process, to try and ensure water self-sufficiency for Singapore. Given that Singapore’s coastal reservoirs have dams that are higher than the projected sea level increase predicted by climate change and that the height of these dams can be raised if needed, Singapore’s water supply is unlikely to be affected by seawater intrusion. These plans will also help to increase water security, as NEWater and desalination are not dependent on rainfall and help to greatly diversify the water supply channels of Singapore.
The report "SIDS-focused Green Economy: An Analysis of Challenges and Opportunities" was launched at COP7 of the Nairobi Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Eastern African Region, which took place in Maputo, Mozambique, from 10 to 14 December 2012.
The Contracting Parties of the Nairobi Convention -among which there are SIDS, i.e., Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles- , the Intergovernmental organisations and...
“Islands are the barometers of international environmental policies. The entire world will first witness their success or their failure on our islands.” These words, of James Michel, the President of Seychelles, deserve to be spoken out loud as delegates from small island developing States (SIDS) gear up to defend their interests at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20).
SIDS serve as the guardians of a “planet under pressure,” whose point of no return is...
March 2013: The Global Water Partnership (GWP) March edition of “News Flow” highlights the launch by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and GWP of a joint Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) to improve monitoring and prevention of droughts.
The newsletter features articles on GWP projects and workshops, including on: climate information in the Caribbean; integrated urban water management (IUWM) in El Salvador; water use efficiency in India; flood information in...
