Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia 25 Jun 09;
SINGAPORE: The PUB, Singapore's national water agency, has launched a guidebook for property developers to incorporate design features in their developments to capture rainwater.
The design guidelines include using natural treatment elements such as rain gardens, cleansing biotopes, green roofs and constructed wetlands to capture and treat rainfall.
The key is to capture rainwater immediately so as to minimise contamination upon contact with surfaces.
Such design features, which can help to expand Singapore's water catchment areas, can be applied to urban scapes, architectural structures, open plazas as well as roads and pedestrian walkways.
It may seem like just a dent on the ground, but a 200-metre swale along Sengkang West Way is part of PUB's Active, Beautiful and Clean or ABC Waters Programme.
The programme seeks to increase Singapore's water catchment areas from half of country's land area to two-thirds.
The bioretention swale was built in September last year and water from it will be purified before being channelled to Sungei Buloh nearby. PUB says it is monitoring the water quality.
Roots of the plants and top soil in the swale help to filter the nitrates and dust in the rainwater.
The bioretention swale and the revamped Sungei Seletar are some of the pilot projects featured in the newly introduced handbook titled "ABC Waters Design Guidelines".
Environmental engineering experts say what is required now is to enhance waterways while enhancing the environment.
PUB is also looking to introduce the handbook as a subject in polytechnics.
- CNA/ir
ABC guide to green design for developers
Victoria Vaughan, Straits Times 26 Jun 09;
RAIN gardens and plant-covered condominiums could become commonplace if new design guidelines from the PUB are implemented by developers.
The guide, part of the Active Beautiful Clean Waters (ABC Waters) Programme, is aimed at developers, both public and private, and details ways in which drainage systems and water features can filter rainwater before it reaches the canals and reservoirs.
One of the ways this can be done is by using bioswales or rain gardens - shallow ditches containing top soil and plants with drainage pipes beneath. The top soil acts as a filtration system, slowing down and cleansing the water before it reaches the public drains, cutting down on dirt and reducing surges.
The founder of city planning firm Atelier Dreiseitl Asia, Mr Herbert Dreiseitl, who contributed to the drafting of the guidelines, said the process mimics nature. 'Rainwater very quickly goes down drains, taking all litter, rubbish and dirt with it to the the reservoirs. Top soil is like a treatment plant - it can filter out nitrates and phosphates, as a forest does, and it can really purify the water perfectly.' The hope is that this will one day lead to cleaner reservoirs and thus cut down on treatment costs.
DP Architects director Tai Lee Siang, who is on the programme's review panel, said that with climate change having a high profile, more developers are now taking an interest in green buildings. 'It will be interesting to know if the private sector will take it up. For very small projects...it won't be easy as there are already many constraints with land and cost pressures, but for larger projects, it will be considered.'
One private developer already implementing such ideas is GuocoLand Group, which was praised by Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor at yesterday's launch.
Its up and coming Goodwood Residence and Sophia Residence projects both have water recycling systems and have won the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark Platinum Award - the highest accolade for green buildings here.
Green Mark points await developers which implement the ABC guidelines, and PUB director of catchment and waterways Tan Nguan Sen hopes the BCA will up the allotted points for ABC features.
He said the guidelines are not mandatory now.
There are now about 10 private-sector projects looking at incorporating water recycling in their designs, he said.
The guide is the final part of the ABC Waters Programme, launched in 2006 to transform Singapore's 15 reservoirs, 32 major rivers and 7,000km of waterways into places of beauty for recreation.
Guide for waters design launched
Nisha Ramchandani, Business Times 25 Jun 09;
A HANDBOOK for incorporating waterscapes in developments was launched yesterday at Singapore International Water Week.
'The ABC Waters Design Guidelines handbook is meant to be a 'living' document that provides general guiding principles,' said Tan Nguan Sen, PUB's director of catchment and waterways.
Launched in 2006 by national water agency PUB, the ABC programme aims to transform Singapore's drains, canals and reservoirs into streams, rivers and lakes. Progress has already been made, with the completion of three demonstration projects at Kolam Ayer, Bedok Reservoir and MacRitchie Reservoir.
'In the next two to three years, we can look forward to over 20 ABC projects around the island, of which nine are already under construction,' Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Environment and Water Resources), said at the handbook launch yesterday morning. 'Over 100 other projects will be realised in the next 10 to 15 years.'
The Sengkang floating wetland at Sungei Punggol is among the projects that will come on stream in the next couple of years.
PUB hopes to attract support from the public and private sectors to enable catchment-wide implementation and the long-term sustainability of the programme.
'It's important that developers take on projects,' said Herbert Dreiseitl, founder of landscape architecture firm Atelier Dreiseitl, adding that such projects offer them opportunities. 'This is the market for the future,' he said.
Mr Dreiseitl also said that Singapore may see more such projects closer to its urban centre.
Some private developers have already started incorporating such design features in their projects. GuocoLand Group's Goodwood Residence will have features such as vertical green walls that incorporate a rain-water harvesting system.
Some tips for a water-wise city
How industry can help treat rainfall and beautify Singapore's urban scape
Today Online 26 Jun 09;
PICTURE a slew of rain gardens, green roofs and man-made wetlands, that both capture and treat rainfall in our urban island. The resulting flow of water into Singapore's reservoirs would be cleaner.
To nudge this vision along, the PUB has launched a handbook of new design guidelines that industry professionals can incorporate in their developments.
These tips can be applied to urban landscapes, architectural structures, open plazas as well as roads and pedestrian walkways.
The aim is to create a sustainable, more livable city through the treatment of stormwater closer to source, and through beautifying urban spaces and creating greater urban bio-diversity, said the PUB.
The national water agency has already test-bedded some of the design features in places like Seng Kang West Way, Balam Estate and Sungei Seletar. These are included in the handbook as case studies.
Mr Herbert Dreiseitl, landscape architect and founder of Atelier reiseitl, called this "holistic storm-water management with aesthetic consideration and lifestyle aspirations" a "new model of urbanism".
He added, the ABC (for "Active, Beautiful and Clean") Waters Design Guidelines point out the tools for companies "to participate in Singapore's vision as a water-wise ecological city of the future".
Stormwater collection and treatment will become even more important, as the space used for water catchment purposes increases from half of Singapore's land area to two-thirds by 2011.
And design guidelines are meant to be a "living document" offering general guiding principles, which developers, professionals, contractors and institutions are welcomed to give feedback on, said Mr Tan Nguan Sen, PUB's director of catchment and waterways.
The guidelines were launched yesterday by Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor in conjunction with Singapore International Water Week.
The ABC Waters programme was launched in 2006 by PUB to transform Singapore's vast network of drains, canals and reservoirs into beautiful streams rivers and lakes.
