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Singapore World Water Day 2022
18 March 2022
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Singapore receives free water from the skies through abundant rainfall, with around 100 to 300mm every month, and 2,340mm every year. And we try to capture and hold as much as water as we can, despite our space constraints. 💧
Even way back in 1912, the Straits Times wrote, “Singapore now has one of the finest water supplies in the world, and to get that on a tiny island which has no river much bigger than a ditch must have meant long and earnest study and a fine capacity for making the most of available means.”
This was in reference to Singapore’s first two reservoirs, MacRitchie (built in 1867) and Kallang Reservoir (built in 1912, now called Lower Pierce). But as our population grew, these proved increasingly insufficient. In the 1960s, the PUB, Singapore's National Water Agency, began expanding our reservoirs, starting with Seletar and Peirce Reservoirs. Between 1975 and 1981, six rivers, beginning with Kranji and Pandan, were dammed to create new reservoirs. These catchment areas are located in urban areas as opposed to nature reserves, and helped us balance between urban development and meeting our water needs.
Today, Singapore has 17 reservoirs filled by an extensive network of rivers, canals and drains that channel captured rainwater. Our resilient supply of drinkable water. #MakeEveryDropCount #GoBlue4SG #SingaporeWorldWaterDay
📸 Upper Seletar Reservoir and Pandan Reservoir / Wikimedia Commons