Tapping the best ideas in water management in Singapore

Liaw Wy-Cin, Straits Times 25 Nov 08;

CAMBODIAN army generals whose home taps have run dry because they refused to pay their water bills are likely to get angry when asked to make good on what they owe - angry enough to hold a gun to your head.

Ask Mr Ek Sonn Chan, who heads the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh's water supply authority.

He has had a gun held to his head a few times in the past 15 years for standing up to these generals and insisting that everyone pay a fair rate for their water.

Singapore's ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh yesterday held up Mr Ek's efforts to rebuild the city's war-ravaged water system as an example of good governance.

Professor Koh, who also chairs the Asia-Pacific Water Forum's governing council, was speaking at the launch of a new programme on leadership in water governance organised by the Institute of Water Policy in Bukit Timah.

The two-week programme, attended by 20 officials from public water agencies in 13 countries, will feature discussions on water policy issues.

The programme participants will also visit the NEWater Research Centre, Changi Water Reclamation Plant and the Marina Barrage.

The participants are expecting to pick up knowledge in areas ranging from the technical to the social - from how to desalinate water more cheaply to ways of identifying the poor in a community so that subsidies can be given to them.

The Institute of Water Policy running the programme was launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong five months ago, during the first Singapore International Water Week.

Clean drinking water and proper sanitation are making their way up the agenda of many countries now facing ballooning urban populations.

But the problem is often not the availability of water so much as managing it - as in how to distribute it fairly to all who need it, said Mr Michael Barrow of the Asian Development Bank, which provides loans and technical assistance to Asian and Pacific countries for their development.

The chief executive of national water agency PUB, Mr Khoo Teng Chye, told Singapore's water story to the participants yesterday - how the island overcame its lack of natural water supply, the limited space it has for use as water catchments as well as how it has strengthened its self-sufficiency in water over the decades.

Mr Khoo said the PUB hoped to find out about the water challenges faced by the programme participants' countries so it can build itself up as a regional centre of knowledge and training in water management.

Asked if the global economic downturn could see governments scaling back on water projects, he said this could, in fact, be a good time for rapidly growing countries to stimulate the economy by launching infrastructure, sanitation, sewage and anti-pollution projects.

'This is a good opportunity for infrastructure to catch up, and for Singapore companies looking for business opportunities in the region. For example, China is going to be spending more money on water development,' he said.