Near real-time water monitoring of Singapore waters planned

Feng Zengkun Straits Times 29 Mar 12;

A NETWORK of eight water-monitoring buoys could soon be installed in Singapore waters for near real-time alerts to changes in water quality.

These changes can be brought about by, for example, oil spills, algae blooms or even heavy rain, which alter the composition of sea water and can harm fish and other sea life.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) is now evaluating bids for such a system; if awarded, the contractor has seven months to deliver it.

The unmanned buoys will be capable of relaying information on water quality to the NEA.

They will also collect weather data, such as that for humidity, rainfall and solar radiation.

The data will be shared with government agencies overseeing facilities that use coastal water, such as desalination plants.

According to documents obtained by The Straits Times, the buoys are likely to be located near Lim Chu Kang, Tuas, Serangoon, Seletar, East Coast, the Cyrene Reef in Pasir Panjang and offshore islands Pulau Tekong and Pulau Semakau.

At present, the NEA collects water samples manually every month and analyses them; it also monitors coastal recreational beaches weekly, to ensure their waters pass World Health Organisation guidelines.

An NEA spokesman said the new system will complement the existing measures, not replace them.

'It will help... by providing near real-time water quality data at the eight locations in our coastal waters,' she said.

Fish-farm owners say they hope that the NEA will share the information with them. At the moment, these farm owners tip one another off to changes in the water that can kill their fish, which are usually kept in nets in pens suspended in open sea.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority also shares any alerts it receives from them with other farmers.

Ms Maureen Ng, a Punggol fish-farm owner in her 60s, said: 'Any measure that can help us is welcome. Sometimes, even the rain can cause havoc to our fish by changing the water's salinity.'

The vagaries of the weather aside, Singapore straddles a busy shipping route, on which accidents have been known to happen.

About a third of the world's trade and half the world's oil pass through the Malacca Strait and the Singapore Strait.

In 2010, a collision between an oil tanker and a bulk carrier in the Singapore Strait spilt about 2,500 tonnes of crude oil into the sea.