Singapore: Additional measures as monsoon looms

Straits Times Forum 22 Nov 11;

PUB, the national water agency, thanks Mr Julian Ho ('Tackle flood worries'; Nov 15). With our abundant rainfall and relatively low-lying land, flood management is an ongoing challenge.

Over the past 30 years, the Government has invested $2 billion on drainage infrastructure and flood prevention to reduce flood-prone areas from about 3,200ha in the 1970s to about 56ha today.

PUB continues to spend more than $150 million each year improving existing drainage to increase flood protection.

These investments, coupled with careful planning, have relieved Singapore of prolonged and widespread floods. However, short bursts of intense rain can still cause localised flash floods.

Based on data from the Meteorological Service Singapore, the maximum rainfall intensities in Singapore have increased over the past 30 years. To address the impact of changing weather patterns, we have to constantly adapt our approach and review our drainage norms.

In the short term, we have accelerated works to upgrade our drainage system and ramped up maintenance efforts. At the same time, we are building up a network of sensors and closed-circuit television cameras to help provide alerts and shorten our response times.

Ahead of the north-east monsoon, PUB has also intensified drainage maintenance, cleansing and inspections, and also stepped up inspections on major construction works, to check for obstructions in drains and discharge of silty water.

For the long term, PUB is revising the code of practice to increase design standards to cope with more intense storms.

The expert panel appointed by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources will also give its recommendations to enhance Singapore's drainage design and flood protection measures in January next year.

In spite of our best efforts, there will always be instances when intense rain may lead to flash floods.

PUB will do its utmost to keep the public informed to minimise inconvenience. It will also investigate every flood incident to determine the follow-up actions required. In the case of Clementi Woods, PUB is working with the National Parks Board to install additional drainage outlets within the park, and this is expected to be completed in two weeks.

PUB also seeks the assistance of the public in our monitoring efforts, so our officers can respond more expeditiously. The public can inform PUB of flash floods via the 24-hour call centre on 1800-284-6600, Facebook http://www.facebook.com/PUBsg or our iPhone app 'iPUBOne'.

Tan Nguan Sen
Director
Catchment and Waterways Department

Tackle flood worries
Straits Times Forum 15 Nov 11;

GIVEN the flooding in Bangkok and recent flash floods here, what is the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources planning to improve drainage in urban areas?

Has sufficient funding been allocated to ensure that such improvements deliver an islandwide drainage system that can tackle challenges created by the combination of increasingly severe weather patterns and increasing urbanisation.

For example, flooding is common along the stretch of West Coast Road next to Clementi Woods Park when rainstorms strike.

The heavy run-off of water from high ground to low ground in Clementi Woods Park is obvious, with frequent overflowing of drains in the area and pooling on level ground.

The situation suggests that the land and the drains can no longer absorb the water run-off, which happened as recently as last Saturday afternoon.

The flooding was serious enough to trap a car, stalling it.

To the public, such flooding in Clementi Woods Park and other parts of Singapore seems symptomatic of an increasing inadequacy of parts of the national drainage grid to tackle flooding because it was not built to handle the changed weather patterns.

What are the effective additional measures to improve Singapore's drainage system to prevent, or at least mitigate, flooding and the ancillary concerns it causes?

Julian Ho