Labels: Campaigns
In the 1980s, to reduce the percentage of UFW, PUB began intensifying its efforts by implementing various measures, which are broadly categorized as leakage control, full and accurate metering policy, proper accounting of water used, and legal enforcement to prevent illegal drawoffs.
A water conservation plan has also been in place since 1981 to check Singapore’s growing water demand and ensure that water is being used efficiently. The various measures implemented under the plan are continually being reviewed and new measures introduced. Aspects covered under the plan include:
- Public education and publicity programs
- Mandatory installation of water saving devices
- Water audits for and encouragement of water recycling practices by customers
- Use of nonpotable water, such as industrial water and seawater, as a substitute for potable water to the extent possible.
The public education and publicity program is an ongoing activity to educate the public on the importance of water conservation and the need to save water. The program covers a range of activities targeted at various groups of customers, such as households, industries, and schools. Activities include visits to waterworks, conducting water conservation talks at schools, holding “save water” exhibitions in community centers, and distributing “Save Water” leaflets to all households. In addition, the education system has been identified as a useful platform to educate the young on the importance of saving water, especially during their impressionable years. The program invited teachers to attend seminars on water conservation so that they can disseminate the water conservation message to their pupils and fellow teachers. Teachers received detective kits and booklets that explain the importance of using water wisely; these will assist teachers in the education process and, more important, help convey the message that saving water must be a lifelong habit for everyone. In some years, Save Water Campaigns were also organized when necessary to remind the public of the need to save water. The latest campaign in 1998 focused on effecting behavioral change in water use.
Management and Development Team
The Water Conservation Unit is tasked with implementing the various measures of the water conservation plan. Since the unit was set up in 1979, it has worked closely with the Public Relations Division under the guidance of senior management to promote water conservation in all sectors of the economy. Besides the unit’s staff, other PUB staff also help spread the water conservation message when dealing with the general public.
Outcome
A) Reduction of Unaccounted For Water
PUB uses UFW as a measure of the efficiency of its water supply system and, consequently, its water demand programs. In 1989–95, UFW dropped from 10.6 to 6.2 percent, generating an estimated savings of about $47 million (US$26 million). This otherwise lost revenue offset any programmatic investment costs and deferred investment in new capital projects.
B) Effectiveness of Save Water Campaigns and Sustained Publicity Program
In 1996 PUB conducted a survey to gather feedback from the public. More than 90 percent of the people interviewed were aware of the need to save water. Such surveys serve as a useful channel for feedback ascertaining the effectiveness of the campaigns and helping to determine the focus of subsequent campaigns. Based on information gathered in the 1996 survey, the focus of the Save Water Campaign held in 1998 shifted from creating awareness about the need to save water to effecting behavioral change in water use. The results of a followup survey carried out in 1999 showed that 93 percent of the people surveyed have to various degrees been encouraged to conserve water. In addition, 84 percent of the people surveyed had actually made an effort to conserve water. The campaigns and publicity programs carried out have thus proved successful in both creating awareness of the need to save water and effecting behavioral change.
Reducing demand for water is as important as developing new sources of supply. Provided Singaporeans conserve water, these long term measures will ensure that we will always have enough water for our essential needs.
Labels: Community.
Besides nationally finding alternative water supplies in Singapore, Singaporeans can help by SAVING WATER. We can put up campaigns to make people realize that they should not only depend on the government to provide them with water but they should also chip in and give ideas on how to replenish the water supply in Singapore. Here are some of the points that we can bring up during the campaign on how to Save Water:
- Take short showers instead of long baths.
- Use a cup when brushing your teeth.
- Do not run the tap when washing the dishes.
- Install a dual-flush toilet.
- Only use the washing machine with a full load.
- Never leave a tap dripping.
- Consider installing a water meter.
- Check faucets and pipes for leaks.
- Keep a bottle of drinking water in the fridge.
- Don't use the toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket.
However, saving water does not ensure that the water can be replenished in Singapore. Hence, the government came up with projects like NEWater, the Marina Barrage, catchment areas, desalinated water and water treaties. However, these projects will not be able to last long and we have to come up with new alternative water supplies. Creating a new water supply is not easy and I feel that Singapore can have alternative water supplies by only increasing catchment areas like building man-made reservoirs on reclaimed land. But making reclaimed land will take extra time and can upset the neighbouring countries. So, should we increase catchment areas in Singapore for the sake of alternative water supply?
Acknowledgements:
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Labels: Save Water
A country's energy, water and food resources are interlinked.If you can improve one, you can improve all.- Dr Andrew Benedek, Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize recipient
According to United Nation's 2009 Developement Report, more than 1.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion lack basic sanitation.
Without proper management of water quality and supply, there could easily be disease outbreaks. Already, half of hospital-stays worldwife relate to water-borne diseases, including malaria.
While globally there has been progress in providing safe water, the real issue lies in the developinh countries, China and India and making progress but Africa is not at all. In the developing world, we are likely to see new parasites and germs because of the lack of clean water. If these germs mutate, they could become a 'super bug' that could pass through a normal water plant.
The threat of Global Warming
Global warming has added another challenge, some major rivers no longer reach the sea, ice caps are melting, and agricultural land is drying up. Global warming reduces water storage and therefore its availability.
Energy use and demand have also rocketed in several countries, as a result of pumping water for distribution to areas further inland and to agricultural lands. In the United States, 19 per cent of total electricity consumption is for pumping water.
The importance of technology
The above challenges can be tackled with the use of technology, and countries should invest in it.
One such solution is membrane technology. Early membrane technology conceived in 1980 went from "ridiculous to mainstream," Almost every country now uses it to treat water.
But the challenge ahead is for countries to balance water needs with rising energy costs and demand. For instance, current membrane technology, including what is used to produce NEWater is energy-intensive and requires up to 1kWh to produce 1 cubic metre. Cutting the energy usage to near zero would make the method viable for developing countries.
Ideas for moving forward
- Developing membrane treatment that requires zero energy;
- Harvesting energy from wastewater treatment for other uses;
- Producing grains that require less water to grow
Sources of water supply
Thirty years after the foundation of Singapore in 1819 the population of Singapore had grown from 150 to 50,000 inhabitants, spurred by its role as the port of call for the peninsula. By 1920, when its population touched 400,000, supply from existing hill reservoirs on the island was stretched to the limits. Attempts were initiated to seek sources from Johor on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula across the Straits of Johor. The Gunung Pulai Scheme was selected and developed and water was supplied to the island through an agreement signed in 1924 between Singapore, a Straits settlement, and the Johor State, both under British colonial rule. In subsequent years new schemes were developed and the Tebrau River Scheme nearer Johor Bahru town was completed in 1953. Water was conveyed to the island via a 1,600 mm pipeline along the causeway from Johor Bahru. A decade later, the Skudai River Scheme and the Johor River Scheme were added; they became operational in 1964 and 1967, respectively, but they were preceded by agreements signed in 1961 and 1962. Some of these schemes were expanded in the 1980s while a new project on the Linggui River in the same state was developed and completed in 1993. In the same year a new agreement was signed between the sovereign republic of Singapore (1) and the Johor state. Johor currently accounts for half of Singapore's daily water needs of 1,299 million [m.sup.3]/day (286 mgd).
Given that a significant amount of water comes from outside its borders, and since water supply is a vital element of its national security, Singapore has been looking towards diversifying its external sources of supply. Indonesia was a logical choice, specifically from the larger islands closer to its borders. In the economic recovery following the mid-1980s recession, the Riau Province of Sumatra was identified not only as a potential economic growth area for Indonesia where Singapore could play a part but also as a potential supplier of water. Water could be conveyed from the Riau islands to Singapore via sub-marine pipelines. An agreement between the two countries, signed in 1991, provided for 4,545 million [m.sup.3] (1,000 million gallons) of water per day from the Riau Province to Singapore. Sungei Kampar on Sumatra was identified as another potential supplementary source of water for the Riau islands, which could be developed with Singapore's participation. Moves were initiated to develop the water supply on Bintan for the neighbouring islands in Riau and for Singapore. In fact, two agreements were signed between the two countries on 29 January 1993: one was a memorandum of understanding to develop water resources in the Sungei Kampar Basin in Sumatra for sale to Singapore (which would also benefit the rest of Riau Province) and the other was an agreement to jointly develop an industrial estate in Bintan (Straits Times 1993). Unfortunately, the economic downturn of 1997/98 and the subsequent political uncertainty in Indonesia put paid to these well-intentioned plans, and Singapore's reliance on Malaysia for its water remains. But this reliance is undesirable in light of the recent deterioration in bilateral ties between the two countries.
Domestic sources
Impoundments and reservoirs
Singapore has several impounding reservoirs inland including Seletar, Peirce and MacRitchie, which occupy 12.3 square miles (about 30 [km.sup.2]) and 12 square miles of protected catchment and unprotected catchment areas, respectively, and which belong to eight streams flowing into the partial pumped-storage Seletar scheme. To increase storage capacity, seven estuarine reservoirs have been developed by damming the river mouths. In the early 1970s Singapore recognised that as a matter of national priority all available water resources on the island should be harnessed, through short-term and long-term schemes (Sung 1972). Given that only 11% of the island's area had been utilised for water collection, the potential for harvesting domestically available water was still significant. It was in that context that a plan to maximise collection of surface resources by extending the present 24.3 square miles (about 75 [km.sup.2]) of collection grounds to 156 square miles (or about 484 [km.sup.2]; 75% of the island's total area) was proposed. Given that geological conditions limited the availability of groundwater (Chou 1972), the plan focused instead on retrieval of stormwater and water recycling.
Stormwater run-off
Harnessing stormwater at minimum cost requires proper land-use planning and pollution control to ensure that stormwater run-off can be efficiently collected and that pollution levels are low. Pollution control policies and enforcement acts were drawn up and promulgated, and, by the 1980s, Singapore was seeing the benefits of these measures. Stormwater harvesting from urban land was consistent with the overall policy of land use in this land-scarce republic, in which land was seen as too valuable for its use to be restricted to a single purpose such as for housing. In the words of the Minister for National Development: If we designate more land for water catchment, there will be less land for housing and other developments. The reverse is also true. Optimising and maximising the use of land and water helped the country to overcome constraints to a certain extent (Straits Times 1996a). Water supply schemes had to be planned to co-exist with other land users and innovative approaches to land use had to be thought out. Given this resolve, Singapore was the first country in South-East Asia to develop viable stormwater run-off schemes. Among the various schemes, the Bedok and Lower Seletar Schemes are the largest. Surface water for these schemes comes mainly from the housing estates and new towns of Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Tampines and Yishun and the area near Changi International Airport. Water is conveyed to the storage reservoirs of Bedok and Lower Seletar. One important feature of this scheme is the emphasis on close co-ordination between several agencies, such as the Housing Board Development (HDB), the Ministry of the Environment (ENV) and the Planning Department, in order to ensure that water collected from urban surfaces is low in pollutants. Such co-operation and co-ordination between agencies sharing land use in catchment areas ensured that pollution did not result from their development projects (Sung 1972). Thus industries and other potential polluters were excluded from the catchments, construction and erosion curbed, and the drainage system designed in such a way that it channels water through concrete channels to suitable collection ponds situated at topographic low points. An automatic monitoring system ensures that only discharges produced by heavy storms resulting in run-off above a certain volume are collected. The 'first flush', which washes off all accumulated pollutants within the catchment, bypasses the stormwater collection facility and flows directly into the sea (Public Utilities Board Digest 1987). Over the years a number of such schemes have been implemented, and rainwater from as much as half of the island, including new towns, has been harnessed. One example of the innovative approach to stormwater collection is making use of the empty space under the interchange of the Seletar and Bukit Timah expressways for a water collection pond. The space is the size of two football fields with a depth of four Housing Development Board (HDB) storeys (Straits Times 1996b). One obvious concern in collecting water in this way is its quality. Analysis of the water collected showed that, for all parameters measured, the quality is comparable to that produced from natural upland catchments, and Table L adapted from Lee and Nazarudeen (1996), gives an indication of the high quality of stormwater collected in reservoirs. The low-lying nature of the Bedok area accounts for the higher conductivity values, and the coastal soils account for the higher sulphate content. For all other parameters including heavy metals and bacteriological counts the stormwater collected at the Bedok reservoir is of good quality.
Recycling and water reclamation
Recycling of water used in homes and industries is an attempt to augment water supplies locally, treating and using it as a resource rather than letting it flow as waste to the sea. Recycling efforts in Singapore started in 1966 when the Jurong Industrial Water Treatment Plant was commissioned to supply industrial water to the Jurong Industrial Estate. This water comes from treated sewerage effluent and is meant for industrial use in the Jurong area as well as by several oil refineries. In general, the Singapore government encourages industry and private enterprises to recycle water, and liberal tax rebates have been provided for factories that install water-saving plants under the Economic Expansion Incentives Act. An example of a successful programme is that implemented by the semiconductor company, STMicroelectronics, which has invested s$3.9 million (2) since 1995 into three water recycling systems in its wafer fabrication plant and to date has saved almost s$11 million. This translates into a recycling rate of 44% of its water usage, or 4.1 million [m.sup.3] of water saved in the past 3 years (Straits Times 2003c). Under pressure to reduce dependence on supplies from Malaysia, Singapore has aggressively embarked on increasing treatment of waste-water effluent, allowing development of a new product, 'Newater', to standards higher than industrial water. A four-stage process brings waste-water to a quality that is better than that produced by the Public Utilities Board, (3) and exceeds the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and World Health Organisation (WHO) standards on all parameters. Treatment begins with the conventional waste-water treatment process, followed by microfiltration to remove suspended solids, colloidal particles, bacteria, some viruses and protozoan cysts, through reverse osmosis to filter all bacteria, viruses, heavy metals and other harmful substances, and finally to ultraviolet disinfection to guarantee complete purity of water, free of any organisms. (4)This water meets the requirements of industries such as the wafer fabrication plants and some commercial buildings, but the intention is to mix with reservoir water to supplement domestic supply. A pilot plant built in 2000 was able to demonstrate the feasibility of reclaiming high-grade water from treated used water using the processes described above. As of 21 February 2003, 2 million gallons (about 9,000 [m.sup.3]) a day, or 1% of consumption, will be blended with raw water in the Bedok, Kranji and Upper Seletar reservoirs (Straits Times 2003a). This amount will increase to some 10 million gallons (about 45,000 [m.sup.3]) a day in 2011, or 2.5% of consumption.
Reduction of water loss in the system
Water supplied from metered sources must be accounted for; the lower this unaccounted-for loss, the more efficient the water supply system. Losses during conveyance can be due to several factors: leakage, pipe breakages, delayed response and repair work, and water theft In many developing counties unaccounted-for water (UFW) may be as high as 30-60% of metered water supply. While technical problems can be solved by replacing old pipes and attending to repairs promptly when reported, water theft must be tackled through legal means. High wastage is a drain on the system: huge revenues are lost and the UFW could easily meet the needs of a significant proportion.
In nature, this basic process is responsible for the hydrologic cycle. The sun causes water to evaporate from surface sources such as lakes, oceans, and streams. The water vapor eventually comes in contact with cooler air, where it re-condenses to form dew or rain. This process can be imitated artificially, and more rapidly than in nature, using alternative sources of heating and cooling.
