Wayne Chan Channel NewsAsia 8 Jul 11;
SINGAPORE: The panel of experts conducting an in-depth review of flood situations in Singapore has a free hand to come up with recommendations that are "practical and affordable", said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.
Dr Balakrishnan said the panel will factor in issues such as climate change, sea level rises, water conservation and the fact that Singapore is highly urbanised and likely to become even more so in the future.
One of the immediate recommendations is for the government to step up investments in meteorological monitoring equipment such as rain gauges, flow meters and radar systems.
Dr Balakrishnan said the panel will also be considering public feedback.
He said: "Even if members of the public don't have specific proposals, their feedback on localised, specific problem areas in their own neighbourhood will still be useful for PUB.
"So that we can make sure, in the meantime, that anything that can and should be fixed, will be fixed."
He was speaking after the experts met on Friday, the first day of their two-day meeting.
Panel members visited the Marina Barrage on Friday and will visit flood-prone areas in Orchard Road and Bukit Timah on Saturday.
Panel chairman Professor Chan Eng Soon said the panel will also study rainfall patterns and flooding in Singapore over the past 30 years.
The panel consists of local and overseas experts. One new addition to the panel, bringing it to 12 members, is Professor David J Balmforth from the United Kingdom.
Professor Balmforth is the executive technical director of the UK operations of global engineering firm, MWH, said that not all flooding solutions used in other major capital cities can be applied in Singapore.
Professor Balmforth said: "One of the main differences here compared with England is that your rain storms are very different.
"The rain intensity is very much greater and that sets its own challenges in terms of what might be done.
"You're also an island state. The level of development in Singapore is quite high. So that means certain things that may be done elsewhere may not be able to be applied in quite the same way."
The next round of meeting for the experts will be in September. It will last for five days and is expected to be more intensive.
- CNA/ck
Down the drain for data on drainage
Rain gauges, radar to be used to track how water flows through system, says minister
Feng Zengkun Straits Times 9 Jul 11;
MORE equipment such as rain gauges and radar systems will be installed in drains and canals to sift out more data about how water flows through the drainage system.
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan said this will help experts determine how best to improve the system to prevent floods.
He was speaking to the media after yesterday's first meeting of a panel appointed to look into measures to prevent floods, such as the one which ravaged Orchard Road last month.
The 12 local and foreign academics and engineers will give their recommendations by year-end.
Ideas from the public will be tapped via various sources, such as national water agency PUB and social-networking site Facebook, and given to the panel to evaluate, added Dr Balakrishnan.
PUB will also look into public feedback and plug problems in specific neighbourhoods, he said.
A ministry spokesman yesterday announced that the 12-man panel had a new member, Professor David Balmforth, and said more experts may be roped in in the future. The 64-year-old Briton is the vice-president of the British Institution of Civil Engineers and editor-in-chief of the international Journal of Flood Risk Management.
Dr Balakrishnan said foreign experts - who now make up half the panel - have been appointed in order to solicit the best advice available worldwide.
He added that the overseas experts could shake up conventional views here. 'We want people who can ask the right questions and make us think, make us re-evaluate,' he noted.
Panel chairman Chan Eng Soon, 56, dean of the engineering faculty at the National University of Singapore, said it was too early to comment on the panel's likely recommendations. He said the members have requested data such as historical rainfall figures. They also visited the Marina Barrage yesterday and will go to flood-prone areas such as Orchard Road and Bukit Timah today.
The barrage has been fingered by some as a cause of the floods in recent years, especially after Tanglin Mall was hit for the first time last month.
The panel will also look into the recommendations from an inter-agency drainage review committee, which have been put up on PUB's website.
The committee was set up after last year's Orchard Road flood and has recommended, among other things, a redesign of drains to cope with more rain as well as higher building platforms.
The panel will meet in September to review possible measures. Meanwhile, the local experts will communicate with their foreign counterparts through video-conferences and e-mail.
The public can provide feedback via e-mail at pub_feedback@pub.gov.sg
Panel of experts on flooding will take a long-term view
Wayne Chan Channel NewsAsia 9 Jul 11;
SINGAPORE - The panel of experts conducting an in-depth review of how to alleviate flooding here will take a long-term view of things - as far as 30 years down the road, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan yesterday.
It will consider the potential "strategic trade-offs" Singapore may have to make, land use, how much work has to be done underground, and dealing with surface run-off versus conserving water for Singapore's reservoirs, among other issues, he said.
Speaking at a two-day panel meeting here to discuss long-term solutions to flooding in Singapore, panel chairman Professor Chan Eng Soon said they would also be studying rainfall patterns and flooding in Singapore over the past 30 years.
The 12-member panel visited the Marina Barrage yesterday and will visit flood-prone areas in Orchard Road and Bukit Timah today.
Dr Balakrishnan, who spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting, said the panel has a free hand to come up with "practical and affordable" recommendations.
The panel will have to factor in issues such as climate change and sea level rises, and the fact that Singapore is highly urbanised, and likely to become even more so.
While its focus will differ from the Inter-Agency Drainage Review Committee formed last August, it will consider the committee's recommendations, he said. In the meantime, the Government is now stepping up on investments in meteorological monitoring equipment, such as rain gauges, flow meters and radar systems.
He also said the panel would also consider public feedback - not just calling for specific proposals, but also for feedback on "localised, specific problems areas in their own neighbourhood" that can be fixed.
The panel's newest addition from the United Kingdom, Professor David J Balmforth, an executive technical director at global engineering firm MWH, said that not all flooding solutions used in other major capital cities can be applied here.
He said: "One of the main differences here compared with England is that your rain storms are very different, the rain intensity is very much greater... You're also an island state. The level of development in Singapore is quite high. So that means certain things that may be done elsewhere may not be able to be applied in quite the same way." WAYNE CHAN
