Monica Kotwani Channel NewsAsia 20 Jan 15;
SINGAPORE: Improvement works to drainage in 187 locations have been completed since 2012, with another 19 slated to start this year. Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan gave this update in Parliament on Tuesday (Jan 20) in reply to a question on Singapore's flood resilience.
However, Dr Balakrishnan acknowledged that current measures to tackle flooding may not be enough to withstand the impact of climate change - which includes more intense storms and rising sea levels.
Dr Balakrishnan shared that in the 1970s, Singapore had about 3,200 hectares of low-lying, flood prone areas. Today, this has been reduced to just 34 hectares. He said that managing floods are part of ongoing, comprehensive measures by national water agency PUB.
For a start, drainage design standards were raised from 2011. This means the capacity of drains could be increased by between 15 and 50 per cent depending on their size. Drainage improvement works to meet these new standards is ongoing in 115 locations islandwide, including the Stamford Detention Tank and the Stamford Diversion Canal.
To reduce the load on public drainage during heavy storms, new and re-developments of 0.2 hectares or more have had to implement required features such as retention and detention tanks into their plans since January 2014. These features store rain water and release it over several hours into drains. Dr Balakrishnan said about 75 developments have submitted plans that incorporate such features.
Beyond the recommendations made by an expert panel after the Orchard Road floods in 2010, Dr Balakrishnan said that more will need to be done as sea levels continue to rise. "We've substantially implemented all the recommendations by the panel. But we are projecting a future with even greater challenges," he said.
"As global climate change occurs, we are anticipating further rises in the sea levels. We also anticipate more intense storms so even the levels of drainage standards imposed now may not be adequate for the future, so this is an ongoing programme."
He added that an element of judgment is needed to pace the work out.
- CNA/ac
