Waterways warrior calls for more hands to help keep waters clean

Jack Board Channel NewsAsia 22 Mar 15;

SINGAPORE: Eugene Heng is a veteran hand when it comes to plying Singapore’s extensive waterways. He is a warden of the canals that stream like veins through an urban landscape, a loyal protector of the waters that give life to a thirsty nation.

The reservoirs are not like they used to be. Where once armed guards stood patrolling alongside barbed wire fences, now the water is an aquatic playground, where children rock playfully on dragonboats and keen athletes test their prowess on streamlined kayaks.

With no natural water source, Singapore as a nation has historically needed to fight and innovate to keep the taps running and the environment in check. And Eugene, the founder of Waterways Watch Society, understands better than most just how fragile water can be.

DRAINING SYSTEM TODAY, DRINKING WATER TOMORROW

“You cannot create water and with the irregular weather and conditions we are experiencing, one cannot take water for granted. Water is life, and every one of us has a responsibility to understand this and behave in a way that respects this commodity,” he said.

Under an overpass of the Nicoll Highway, on the banks of Marina Reservoir, Eugene’s understated headquarters for his non-government organisation provides a perfect vantage point to watch the reservoir come to life with water users, and to launch out into its cobalt expanse.

But Eugene is no sight-seer. His mission is to patrol, monitor and educate and he has dedicated a life to encouraging his countrymen and women to treasure a precious resource. At the very least, he wants them to stop polluting it.

Yet, he remains troubled on a daily basis by the amount of pollution washing into the country’s reservoirs, waste created by the dozens of communities and townships up river, which eventually flows into Singapore’s source of drinking water.

“The Marina Reservoir is so urban-connected with people, and people create litter. You cannot blame it on anyone else,” he said. “We find plastic bags, drink cans and even a lot of household items. That tells you people are either ignorant or irresponsible. Your drainage system today is actually your drinking water tomorrow."

"WATER IS OUR LIFELINE"

As we explore the passages around the reservoir, litter is not hard to spot. Most of it is clustered at the water’s edges where pieces of plastic, food waste and styrofoam lay congealed in a thick vacuum of muddy ooze. After heavy rain the problem is greatly magnified.

“We actually find a lot of litter, and pollution of our waterways in terms of oil, paint and foam, and all this relates to the fact that there are a lot of people not understanding that this waterway is our lifeline,” he said.

Eugene is also able, with regular timing, to reach into the water using his trusty net to extract bottles, cans and even the odd badly-injured bird, which he takes ashore for treatment. He laments that other water users do not do the same, simple acts that would collaboratively help keep the water clean and contribute to a feeling of collective ownership.

“What is really disappointing is when we see young people enjoying their kayaking and dragonboating, and they pass floating trash bags without a second thought of picking it up,” he said.

“For 16 years we've been here, and I have never, ever seen any water user actually stop and pick it up. That's very sad.”

Nearby fishermen cast their lines illegally. They are meant to only fish in designated areas of the reservoir, but Eugene says, like the fish, they rarely go where they are told. A woman bathes neck deep by the shoreline. Swimming is illegal and Eugene puts over on his motorboat to gently suggest she move on.

A 'CLEANED' NATION

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong recently bemoaned how the nation is becoming more cleaned than clean, and nowhere is this more evident than Marina Reservoir, where dozens of cleaners on land and on water wearily earn their pay, filling endless bags with trash.

“As we increase our population from 5.4 million to 6.9 million this problem will be even more challenging, and hiring more cleaners is not the solution,” Eugene said. “If we are able to educate, share with people - if the people are more aware and take more social responsibility and take more ownership and they now know what to do and what not to do - I think you will find much less litter in our waterways.”

Eugene is far from a solitary voice in trying to promote this message. His organisation has about 400 volunteer members who help conduct regular education workshops for school students and corporate groups as well as providing bicycles and kayaks to encourage learning beyond the group’s makeshift classroom.

His work in turn has been widely recognised in Singapore. He was given the President’s Award for the Environment in 2014 and a Public Service Medal in 2005 for his role in environmental conservation. At the core of his mantra is a yearning to see each Singaporean play their part.

“For us, prevention is better than cure,” he said. “While you have this resource, don't take it for granted, enjoy it, respect, value it - don't pollute it."

UN World Water Day is held every year on March 22, highlighting a different global water issue each year. For more information click here.

- CNA/jb

World Water Day: Water self-sufficiency part of Lee Kuan Yew's legacy, says DPM Teo, Grace Fu
Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Channel NewsAsia 21 Mar 15;

SINGAPORE: Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said it was Mr Lee Kuan Yew's determination and the vision as the nation's first Prime Minister which pushed Singapore towards water self-sufficiency.

Speaking at celebrations to mark World Water Day at the Sports Hub on Saturday (Mar 21), Mr Teo wished Mr Lee well. The former Minister Mentor has been at the Singapore General Hospital since Feb 5, when he was admitted for severe pneumonia.

"Right here on the river in the 1960s and 1970s where the water was black, oily and dirty, he had the vision to think of this place as a beautiful bay that we could clean up and enjoy and which can give us life-giving water and with determination and persistence, and with cooperation from everyone, this is what we have today – a beautiful bay with life-giving water," said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Mr Teo said that with Singapore marking 50 years of nation building this year, Singaporeans should remember the hard work that enabled Singapore to transform the country's water vulnerability into an advantage.

And looking ahead, Mr Teo said climate change will pose new challenges to the country's sustainable development efforts. To safeguard Singapore against changing weather patterns, the Government will continue to invest in water infrastructure ahead of demand, he said.

For example, a third desalination plant at Tuas will be completed by 2017, adding another 30 million gallons a day of desalinated water to Singapore's water supply.

Over at celebratons at Jurong Lake, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu said during his term as Prime Minister, Mr Lee was very conscious to make the country's water supply a key priority.

"With disappointment and sadness that we are now facing the reality that our founding prime minister is critically ill in hospital, I think it is very timely and appropriate on this day to really remember and acknowledge the contributions of Mr Lee," she said.

"From the very first day, Mr Lee has highlighted the importance of water, particularly from a security and sovereignty point of view. Connected by water pipelines at the time of independence, Singapore needed water from other countries to keep us alive, so that was of critical, strategic importance - a factor that really has a profound effect on how we were going to survive as a new country.

"And in fact, the Water Supply Agreement forms part of the Separation Agreement and both of them became the Document of Independence. We owe it to Mr Lee today, that we can proudly say that through 30, 40 years of research development and hard work we have almost reached water self-sufficiency."

Water demand in Singapore is currently about 400 million gallons a day - a figure which is set to double by 2060. That is equivalent to more than 1,400 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

- CNA/es