By Wayne Chan | Posted: 20 November 2010 2003 hrs
SINGAPORE :
Singapore's city centre reservoir - Marina Reservoir - is now ready for
use.
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew activated the Marina Reservoir
fountain, one of the tallest in Singapore, to mark the event on
Saturday evening.
The freshwater reservoir has been through a
desalting process which started April last year, and is now set to
supply about 10 per cent of Singapore's water needs.
PUB said
desalting brings a reservoir's concentration of salt water down from
around 35,000mg per litre - which is typical of seawater - to about
100mg per litre - considered suitable enough to be of drinking water
standard.
A reservoir in the heart of the city was MM Lee's
vision 20 years ago.
He dreamt of putting a dam across the Marina
Channel to create a freshwater reservoir.
With advancements in
membrane technology that allows treatment of water from highly urbanised
areas, and the clean-up of the Kallang and Singapore rivers, this dream
has become a reality.
The Marina Reservoir - Singapore's 15th
reservoir - together with the Punggol and Serangoon Reservoirs to be
ready next year, will increase Singapore's water catchment area from
half to two-thirds of the island.
"What is interesting about
this project is that it is taking rainwater from a very large part of
Singapore. In fact it will be about 1/6 of Singapore's land area (10,000
hectares), and probably the most urbanised part of Singapore," said Yap
Kheng Guan, senior director of PUB.
Water will first flow from
drains in Orchard, Ang Mo Kio, Paya Lebar and Alexandra into the Marina
Reservoir.
It can then be pumped 14 kilometres through a pipe to
Upper Peirce Reservoir within half an hour for storage before
treatment.
After treatment at Chestnut Avenue Waterworks, the
water is then distributed to the rest of the island.
PUB said
what this means is that we need to take care of our waterways.
"The
drains you see right in front of your office or your house may well be
bringing water to this place here (Marina Reservoir). So it's really
important for us to understand that, because every litter or things that
we throw into the drain may find its way here," said Yap.
The
PUB hopes to turn 90 per cent of Singapore into catchment areas in the
future by tapping into smaller rivers and streams around the island,
using variable salinity plant technology which is an integration of
desalination and NEWater treatment processes.
- CNA /ls
10%
NEWater 25%.. Desalinised water 20%...
There's still Punggol reservoir upcoming.
Originally posted by sbst275:10%
NEWater 25%.. Desalinised water 20%...
There's still Punggol reservoir upcoming.
don't think that will be enough if population up to 6mil.
i recalled the initial number was 15% for marina basin. Maybe with the recent flood they have to open the flood gate and let go the water into the sea more than they anticipate.
So a revised downward...heee ja ja ja...........
SO WHAT IF MARINA BAY CAN SUPPLY 10% OF WATER WHEN IT'S CAUSING ALL THE FLOODS IN DOWNTOWN AREA ???
hope the coming rainy season in December will be really really wet................flood the whole bloody place............