How Singapore solved its looming water crisis
In Singapore, water supply impacted wars, the economy and people’s health. Now, one of the most water-stressed countries is teaching the world how to handle water when there is hardly any.
#PlanetA #Singapore #WaterCrisis
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Credits:
Reporter: Tim Schauenberg
Supervising Editor: Michael Trobridge
Video Editor: David Jacobi
Fact-Check: Alexander Paquet
Thumbnail: Em Chabridon
Read more:
United Nations Water, report on Singapore’s strategy:
https://www.unwater.org/sites/default/files/2023-11/sdg6-case-study-singapore_eng.pdf
Isocarp Institute, Singapore’s Water History:
https://www.isocarp-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Review10_Water-and-the-Cities-The-SIngapore-Story.pdf
International Water Association Fact sheet on Singapore:
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:35 The challenge
01:56 History
03:32 Step 1: Imported Water
04:57 Step 2: Desalination
06:09 Step 3: Local Catchment
07:18 Step 4: NEWater
09:22 Policy and Education
10:14 Conclusion
40 Comments
Is there enough water where you live?
Singapore is lucky they had a benevolent dictator in Lee Kwan Yew. Pretty much set the country up for success.
I'm in Western Australia and our government is absolutely useless when it comes to water. Instead of funding waterwise education they fund ads that blame household use. . . which is only 6% of water consumed. An uninformed population can't address the true giants of water consumption. They refuse to address poor infrastructure, regulation, and innovation.
The government absolutely won't mention the overseas owned mining and oil production who use 35% of potable water because our politicians all have their hands in oil and mining pockets.
I live out bush so we have a water tank and are incredibly conservative with how we use and reuse water. Water for dishes and showers is then used for the washing machine then flows into a grey water tank that supplies the gardens, air cons, toilets, and emergency reserves for the firies and bush fire sprinkler system.
We've had extreme drought for two years and looking at another, even more desperate summer.
Can the people in the slums get fresh water easily?
Don’t count chickens before they hatch
World class water price. 3 times the rate (in digit, not currency) more than our neighbour across.
When you purify the water from the toilet, what do you do with the waste residue?
Aren't there any factories, rice paddies or fields in Singapore?
What happens to the salt when seawater is desalinated?
OMG! Everything can be told backwards. They have enough tropical rains, and of course real schools. Catching the rain is much easier to filter than RO membranes that need 5l of fresh water for every liter of drinking water. So making good use from what drops in from heaven where at the end they can export technology to secure enough to drink for every resident. I live in the wettest part of Australia and people here are so dumb and lazy and of course corrupt that they keep on begging for years on end just to build a new pipeline. The whole world has enough drinking water once they do take good care of it. Even in the middle of a desert pure drinking water can be extracted from the air. All it needs is a brain and the will to do so.
Jones Daniel Gonzalez Mark Moore George
It’s a little bit difficult to understand the accent.
With a population of *5.64 million in Singapore* and *4.03 million in Johor**, the combined population reaches a total of **9.67 million**—approximately **10 million* people. Whenever drought strikes Johor and the Johor River's levels drop, *Singapore* has consistently stepped in to supply fresh water to the people of Johor. This situation highlights an interesting fact: Singapore, with its advanced water infrastructure, doesn’t need to wait until *2061* to be self-sufficient in water. For many years, particularly during dry seasons, *Singapore has demonstrated its capacity to provide fresh water* to *10 million people* with ease, leveraging its robust systems like *NEWater* and **desalination**. In effect, Singapore is already managing to meet the water needs of a combined population, proving its resilience and readiness long before full water self-sufficiency is even officially required by 2061. 12:45
easy for them to do coz their country is small
What was the point of cherry-picking Singapore’s “controlled democracy”? What a foolish point to make. What public service projects have the world’s beacons of democracy been able to produce without decades of politicking, parliamentary sessions and lobbying?
Is this sponsored content?
proud to be Singaporean
** LOVE AND CHEERS TO THIS CHANNEL ** I am Singaporean – and i FREQUENTLY visit these Reservoirs mentioned in this video ** THOSE along Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is ** BEAUTIFUL ** it is one of the tourist hotspots for a nature walk. We have a new technology (in this world) – uniquely FROM Singapore Oxygenated, Reverse-Osmosis water that is generated, purified and filtered for World Drinking Standard for safe clean water. (Google N.E.W Water Singapore.) That was developed about 30 years ago (WHEN the topic of water scarcity was the concerns.)
The water pipe was blown up by the British. In the attempt to stop the Japanese Army from entering Singapore via the causeway, the water pipes which were built alongside the causeway was blown up by the British together with the causeway.
The Sustainability Museum out at Singapore Marina Barrage explains this in great detail, and is an incredibly interesting visit especially if you take a free guided tour – our tour guide was amazing and very frank.
I believe ISRAEL has less rainfall than SGP. ISRAEL also does NOT benefit from getting water from its neighbour/s, whereas SGP gets water from Johore. YET Israel EXPORTS water to other Middle East countries. Pls get a proper perspective.
Yeah it’s all good, except Singapore is too expensive, you can buy a house here in the US with the amount of money you have to pay for a “cheap” car! And don’t get me started on the perpetual heat.
As a Singaporean, I appreciate the foresight demonstrated by our leaders in planning for the future. Ironically, Dr. Mahathir's threat to halt the supply of raw water to Singapore has prompted our leadership to remain vigilant and not take our resources for granted.
Hard to live without cheating/stole from others☝️
As a Singaporean, it's painful to see some salty comments below against the ideology of our progression (a few requires some form of desalination 🤣) Of course we know that there's no perfect plan or perfect system, but we choose to recognise our Weaknesses and then excel in our Wins. We are given brains to be used to hunt for strategic advantages, coopetition and partnerships, not to yap against our 'disadvantages' 😀
Maybe consider creating a big structure ring barrage + near the seas that is 3 rimes the size of a GRC forming the largest manmade reservoir in the world too. 😊😊
why dont they just increase the price of water
👏
Good job, Singapore
Good job, Singapore!
As a Singaporean, and also a water engineer, I also know that Singaporeans are complacent and waste a lot of water everyday.
One person to thank, Mahathir. People like him in UMNO scare us to build so many reservoirs, swimming pools. To add we have newater and desalination. If not for all the threats, we wouldn't have enough. Had we not imported 1 million Malaysians into Singapore, we don't need to import water from Malaysia.
CONTROLLED DEMOCRACY MORE LIKE AUTHOCRATIC DEMOCRACY😂😂
nobody cares about a tiny island
Wait just one minute, we are NOT interested in starting fights with anyone. We have only a Defense force. Any jealousy from neighbours is only one-sided.
Every country needs to understand the scarcity of water. New water was laughed at by others but now Singapore has the last laugh.
What annoys me the most about Singapore is how they let in Westerners who act like they are above Singaporeans. Many Singaporeans worship White people, maybe due to their colonial roots. It's sad. They are a proud nation but when a Westerner comes along they swoon over them, especially white males.
It’s not DW if it doesn’t take jab in Singapore government even in a video talking about what they have done right, “controlled democracy”? According to who and what benchmark? Just because the western countries are on decline due to the rise of nationalism and governments need to bow down to popularism and can’t do the right thing and get re-elected? Saying Singapore is a “controlled democracy” is an insult to Singapore government and its people.
7:56 Ah yes, the marvels of Western democracy! While Singapore solves critical infrastructure challenges, we in the free world can proudly point to our robust tradition of… endlessly debating water policy. Who needs efficient problem-solving when you have the freedom to argue about it for decades? Sure, Singapore may have secured its water future, but at what cost? The ability to vote for a different party that would… also solve the water crisis? Thank goodness we're not burdened by such tyrannical effectiveness!
7:57 The horrors of a 'controlled democracy'! How dare Singapore solve its water crisis without the proper amount of gridlock and partisan bickering? Clearly, the only ethical way to address urgent national problems is through years of campaign promises, lobbying, and inconclusive committee hearings. Sure, Singapore may have clean water flowing from every tap, but at least we have the freedom to watch our elected officials controlled by special interests instead. Who needs a secure water supply when you can have the illusion of choice between two parties that are equally inept at infrastructure planning? Thank goodness for our superior, totally-not-controlled-by-corporate-money democracy!