Sustainability

Water & Sustainable Management

With no natural water resources, Singapore has progressively created more surface water reservoirs, building on the first three reservoirs at MacRitchie, Seletar and Peirce, to 17 reservoirs. Today, two-thirds of the island is water catchment. Using urban areas as water catchment requires close collaboration with different stakeholders and careful city planning to ensure that surface run-off from urbanised water catchment remains fit for treatment for potable use.

Singapore depends on three other water resources — imported water, NEWater and desalinated water, to meet its day-to-day needs. While PUB has successfully diversified our water sources, we will continue to look for ways and strategies to manage and increase our water inventory, while also seeking climate-resilient sources of water.

With water demand expected to double by 2065, Singapore’s energy needs required for treating and delivering water is projected to triple consequently. PUB is actively exploring solutions to reduce its dependency on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate its impacts to climate change.

Appointed as the nation’s Coastal Protection Agency in April 2020, PUB is embarking on coastal protection work to protect Singapore against sea level rise due to climate change. We are also investing in new technologies to improve our flood response and improving our drainage systems to reduce inland flooding from more frequent and intense storms.

Capable and Engaged Workforce

As PUB seeks to diversify Singapore’s water resources, we rely on a skilled workforce, effective work processes and technologies to ensure that the entire water system is well maintained and operated, and in a resource-efficient and responsible manner. PUB works to ensure that treatment processes are reliable and resilient; with minimal loss of precious water through the distribution network; and that resources are optimised throughout our operations.

Strong Partnerships

Just as water is a precious resource for all, ensuring the sustainability of water resources is a shared responsibility. Everyone has a part to play in conserving and protecting our waters. From the general public to the private sector, PUB actively reaches out to the community and all stakeholders to raise awareness and identify opportunities to conserve and recycle water. Every drop not used is a drop that does not have to be produced.

Business Excellence

In an increasingly complex and digitalised workplace, PUB will continue to implement robust security and IT management practices, and leverage innovation to deliver our projects and supply water in a cost-efficient manner.