Developing new water sources through the Four National Taps constitutes half the strategy to ensure a sustainable water supply in Singapore. The other half is managing water demand and encouraging water conservation. Arguably, this can even be regarded as the more important half, given the physical and cost limitations of building new water sources indefinitely.

A single user increasing his water consumption may have little impact on the country's water resources, but if the entire population behaves likewise, this will not be sustainable. Furthermore, the prudent use of water involves important social habits and behaviours that take time to be inculcated, and hence any desired behavioural outcomes cannot simply be achieved overnight. Therefore, the thrust of any effective water demand management strategy must be to reach out to each and every user, be it an individual or organization, and ensure that such efforts are sustained over time.

SINGAPORE'S WATER DEMAND

Water consumption for the domestic sector in the last few decades has increased as a result of rapid industrial, economic, and social developments in Singapore. Up until 1995, the growth in domestic water consumption outpaced population growth. In 1965 when the population was at 1.9 million, domestic demand for potable water was 142,000 cubic metres per day (75 litres per capita per day). By 1994, the population had gone up by about two times, but domestic water demand had increased by more than four times (175 litres per capita per day). Such high demand growth puts a huge strain on Singapore's limited water resources and is not sustainable.

Global environmental challenges will continue to confront the world. From pollution by hazardous industrial waste in the 1970s to ozone layer depletion in the 1980s and climate change in the 1990s, the importance of environmental management has grown and become more transboundary in nature, in tandem with increased urbanization and population growth.

Singapore firmly believes that global environmental responsibility must first begin at home. The government's priority thus lies in ensuring that domestic environmental issues are well managed, which provides the foundation for moving beyond Singapore's shores to collaborating with the international community on global environmental issues.

In the early years, Singapore lacked the necessary expertise in the environmental sector and relied on international assistance for its capacity building needs. In developing infrastructure and experimenting to find workable solutions for its environmental and water challenges, Singapore has gained useful best practices and experiences along the way. It is now thus able to contribute and share its experience with other countries that may be facing similar environmental challenges.

As Singapore built up its domestic environmental track record, it also became party to key Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) to partner the international community in solving shared environmental challenges. On accession to, or ratification of, these treaties, Singapore takes its obligations very seriously and puts in place systems and infrastructure to ensure that its responsibilities under these MEAs can be fulfilled. Despite being an export-oriented economy, Singapore did not pursue its trade interests at the expense of its environmental commitments, even if that meant foregoing certain economic opportunities. In seeking progress, every effort was made to balance the demands of economic development, social progress, and environmental sustainability.

Every community produces solid waste. Rapid urbanization and population growth in many cities will lead to an ever increasing amount of solid waste being generated. If there were no systematic means of waste collection and disposal, piles of rubbish would accumulate, with their associated stench, and create potential breeding grounds for pests and vectors. This will add stress to existing waste management infrastructure and pose potential threats to public health.

The effective management of solid waste is thus a priority that every city needs to address as it is an integral aspect of people's daily lives, and affects their quality of life. However, as many developing cities have found, putting in place an effective waste management system is not a straightforward matter.

It was no different in Singapore. Managing solid waste was one of the key environmental challenges that had to be tackled in the early days of Singapore's development and industrialization. The government had to cope with an increasing amount of waste by continually improving the system and learning from best practices in other cities. This has resulted in a solid waste management system that best suits local circumstances and caters to Singapore's needs.

LOCAL CIRCUMSTANCES

Singapore is today one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with a population density of 6,520 population per sq. kilometre. In line with population and economic growth, the volume of waste disposed has increased sixfold over the past thirty years.

With the population and industries housed within a small land area of only 700 sq. kilometre, every bit of land is a valuable resource.

Environment and water as well as public health issues in Singapore today are overseen by the Ministry of the Environment and its two statutory boards — the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Public Utilities Board (PUB). In law, a statutory board is an autonomous government agency established by an act of Parliament that specifies the purpose, rights, and powers of the body. The NEA and PUB have been formed under the National Environment Agency Act and the Public Utilities Act respectively.

The National Environment Agency Act outlines the functions, duties, and powers of the NEA. The functions and duties of the NEA include monitoring, reducing, and preventing pollution, ensuring high standards of public cleanliness through the supervision of cleansing services and the prevention of littering, ensuring high standards of public health through vector control and research on vector-borne diseases as well as licensing food outlets, managing and regulating refuse collection and disposal, promoting resource efficiency, and the provision of meteorological services.

NEA administers the Environmental Protection and Management Act (EPMA), which provides a comprehensive legislative framework for the control of environmental pollution and the promotion of resource conservation. The EPMA was previously known as the Environmental Pollution Control Act (EPCA). The EPCA was amended and renamed the EPMA on 1 January 2008 to provide for additional provisions on the protection and management of the environment and resource conservation. The EPCA came into operation on 1 April 1999 and consolidated previous separate laws on air, water, and noise pollution, and hazardous substances control. In addition, NEA administers legislations under the Hazardous Waste (Control of Export, Import and Transit) Act, which governs hazardous waste. NEA also administers the Environmental Public Health Act (EPHA) and the Control of Vectors and Pesticides Act). Together, these Acts provide the legislative framework for ensuring high standards of public health and cleanliness. The EPHA covers areas such as public cleansing, refuse disposal, industrial waste, food establishments and hawker centres, and sanitary conditions.

The Public Utilities Act outlines the functions, duties, and powers of the PUB in relation to water. The functions and duties of the PUB include providing an adequate supply of water, regulating the supply of piped water for human consumption, supplying industrial and treated used water, and operating the public sewer systems and storm water drainage systems.

Residents in Singapore breathe in clean air, drink clean water direct from the tap, live on clean land, and enjoy good public hygiene. However, Singapore is not a green utopia with zero carbon emissions, large-scale renewable energy sources, or cutting edge zero-energy buildings. What it does have is a practical, cost-effective, and efficient approach towards sustaining its environment, which contributes to the high quality of life in Singapore.

In a world where rapid industrialization and urbanization have led to tremendous pressures on environment and water resources, visitors to Singapore often ask: how is it possible that a small city state sitting on barely 700 sq. kilometre of land, housing close to 5 million people, and bustling with a world class airport, the world's busiest port and many other industries, can remain clean, green, and environmentally sustainable? They want to understand how Singapore has achieved this and hear about Singapore's experience.

CLEAR VISION

The answer is that it starts with a clear vision from the very top that a clean and good quality living environment is important, and a strong commitment to implement that vision.

The idea for this book originated from my first day in the Ministry of the Environment on 1 January 2004. It was a dream job. Singapore has had a wonderful record in environment protection. The staff of the Ministry, including its two Statutory Boards, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) and National Environment Agency (NEA), are passionate, competent, and professional. The job is also a constantly evolving one, as new environmental challenges such as climate change and sustainability issues continue to confront us. One never gets bored. And the work is rewarding, as we know that what we do will leave a lasting impact on future generations.

I wanted to produce a book to explain how Singapore came to choose the environmental path it did. Not just what we did, but how we made our calculations and reached our decisions. And through reflecting on the past, I wanted to synthesize the principles that would lead us forward into the future.

But like many good ideas, this book had a long gestation period. Over the years, I have become engrossed in my work. The Ministry was renamed the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) in August 2004 to better reflect its work, which is not just about environment, but also water resource management. At the time when I was discussing names with my Minister, other names being considered were “Ministry of Resource Conservation” and “Ministry of Environment Sustainability” as these were longer term challenges that we would have to grapple with. However, we eventually agreed to recommend the more straightforward name, as ideas such as resource conservation and environmental sustainability would not have resonated as well with the public until we could gain their understanding and buy-in on these issues.

As Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, I have included increasing the investment on environmental infrastructure as well as environmental ownership among my priorities because while it is critical to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place, it is only by actively involving people that we can hope to achieve the goal of resource conservation and environmental sustainability.

In the 1960s and 1970s, floods were common and widespread in Singapore, especially in the city centre, which was built on relatively low-lying land. As the ground levels of developments in these areas were usually barely above high tide level, they would flood almost every time heavy rain coincided with high tide. Floods like these not only caused great inconvenience and disruption to people's lives but also damage to property.

SEVERE FLOODS IN SINGAPORE

Flood of 1969

In December 1969, Singapore experienced 467 millimetres of rain within a 17-hour period, the second highest rainfall ever recorded in Singapore in a single day. The heavy rain, coupled with a high tide of 3.1 metres, resulted in extensive floods across the island. The most severely affected areas were Bukit Timah Valley and Potong Pasir, where several stretches of road were submerged under 2 metres of flood waters. The floods claimed the lives of five people, and more than 3,000 people were evacuated. The city transport system was paralyzed, and all roads and rail links between Singapore and West Malaysia were severed. Total damages were estimated at S$4.3 million (based on 1969 prices).

Flood of 1978

In December 1978, Singapore experienced its most severe flood ever. A total of 512.4 millimetres of rain was recorded over a 24-hour period — the highest in a single day and almost a quarter of Singapore's average annual rainfall. To compound matters, the rain coincided with a very high tide of 3.2 metres (the average high tide level is about 2.8 metres.

1. Singapore has changed significantly over its forty-three years of independence. The tables below track the key economic and social indicators and provide a snapshot of Singapore's journey. From a port with a small population of about 1.9 million and GDP1 per capita of S$4,668 (US$1,525) in 1965, Singapore has developed into a dense city state with more than 4 million people and GDP per capita of S$44,767 (US$26,897) in 2005 (Table AI.1).

2. In tandem with economic and population growth, Singapore has also progressed in social and human development aspects such as health and education levels of its citizens (Table AI.1). Adult literacy rates have increased from about 70 per cent in the 1970s to 95 per cent today. The quality and standards of healthcare services have also improved, as shown by the reduction of infant mortality rates from 26.3 to only 2 per 1,000 live-births in 2005. Total life expectancy at birth for residents has increased from 64.5 to 79.7 years since 1965.

3. International Benchmarking:

4. (a) Global Competitiveness Index

5. The Global Competitiveness Report series produced by the World Economic Forum is widely regarded as the world's most comprehensive assessment of countries’ competitiveness, providing a dataset on a broad array of competitiveness indicators for a large number of industrialized and developing economies. The World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Singapore the 7th most competitive economy out of 131 countries under its Global Competitiveness Index (Table AI.2).

6. (b) Human Development Index (HDI)

7. The HDI, published every year by the Human Development Report since 1990, provides a broadened prism for viewing human development and well-being beyond economic growth. It provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life, being educated and with a decent standard of living. The HDI for Singapore in 2005 is 0.922, which translates to a rank of 25th out of 177 countries with data (Table AI.3).

8. (c) Mercer Quality of Living

9. Mercer's Worldwide Quality of Living is an annual survey that measures livability of cities for expatriates based on factors that people consider representative of quality of living.

Singapore suffered one of its worst droughts in 1963, when water stocks dropped to dangerously low levels. Water rationing was introduced in April 1963 and was only lifted ten months later in February 1964, with the return of heavy rainfall. What started off as zone rationing for six hours a day, four times a week, was soon extended to islandwide rationing for twelve hours a day, three times a week. It was a painful episode. Singaporeans had to be conscious of when the rationing periods were, and wake up early or stay up late to store the water they needed. Otherwise, they would have to collect their water from public stand pipes during rationing hours. The usual routines were disrupted and the cost of food went up.

During this period, with the dissolution of the City Council, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) was established in May 1963 as a statutory board to coordinate the supply of water, electricity, and piped gas. With regard to water, PUB was charged with improving and expanding the available water assets to keep pace with population expansion and industrial development. To the fledgling PUB, the drought of 1963 left deep and indelible impressions among its officers which remain to this day.