Reinforcing the quest of water self sufficiency
Rakesh Naduvath Mana MSc 2 Urbanism TU Delft Faculty of Architecture May 2015
Hilly Terrain and Drainage-Direction
Central hilly terrain
Drainage into Sea
British build Reservoirs
Three new reservoirs for fresh water supply
‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ Singapore and Water Singapore, today, is considered as one of the world leaders in the fresh water management and innovators for alternate sources of water. The storm water canals that are spread around the city, the underground tunnels for the transfer of waste water to reuse them to potable water and large scale desalination projects undertaken in the coast of this city-state are its examples. Necessity is the mother of invention Singapore is an island in the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, about 134 km north of the equator. Therefore, Singapore has a tropical rainforest climate with abundant rainfall of about 2500mm annually. Topography of the island drains the heavy rain through the many monsoon rivers that occur naturally. But the island has very scarce groundwater, owing to the geological properties of the hilly terrain. Therefore, when the British found the island as a port city in the early period of 19th century, their main priority was to address the fresh water scarcity of the island. They achieved it partially by building water reservoirs
at different locations on the island to store the rain water from draining them into the sea. With the development of steamships and the opening of the Suez Canal in later part of the 19th century the volume of trade soared and the economy flourished. It made Singapore one of the busiest trading ports in the world. The increasing population associated with this growth resulted in excess pressure on the reservoirs for fresh water, leading to arrange import of fresh water from Malaysia (Tortajada, 2013).
British Port City around Singapore River
LEGEND Water British Singapore
Import of water from Malaysia Import from Malaysia
Missing Water Water Resources Singapore
All images source: Vertical cities Asia Research 2015, Complex projects chair, TU Delft Faculty of Architecture
Concept Plan Proposal 1963 - Otto Königsberger
Quest for Water Self Sufficiency This increasing population, unplanned growth of the city and pollution, post British rule lead to the decay of the existing city, reservoirs and the rivers. After attaining Independence in 1965, the main priority of the nation was economic growth and water safety for its citizens. This was evident from the concept plan of 1963, in which a development ring of industries and residential towns were envisioned around the central catchment area. This ‘Ring city’ concept by Otto Koniberger was inspired from the Dutch concept of Randstad. ‘The city-state has demonstrated that if designed, built and operated in environmentally sustainable ways, the vast ability cities have to generate immense finance capital could be harnessed to protect and improve their urban landscape’(Tortajada, 2013). Indeed, part of Singapore’s environmental profile can be attributed to changes in its economic structure. In 1961, the heavily water polluting industries like food, printing and wood manufacturing sectors accounted for 40 per cent of the industries. But over the years they adapted to more water friendly industries like electri-
cal, electronics, R&D and tourism, eliminating almost every the water polluting industries. Over the span of last 50 years, Singapore increased its reservoirs capacity from 4 (1965) to 16(2014), developed reuse water and desalination processes. This shows how Singapore used water, first as a basic necessity for survival, but later as a strategic element of growth, development and improvement in the quality of life. But today, even after all these innovations Singapore is not self reliant on fresh water.
Water & Green Networks
All images source: Vertical cities Asia Research 2015, Complex projects chair, TU Delft Faculty of Architecture
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Reclaimed land
Richard Florida states in his paper ‘The rise of the Mega Region’ , about how the urban structures keep on growing; that they never practically reduce in size. This has been not any different with the case of Singapore. But the growth of Singapore has been on an exponential scale, compared to most other global cities of today, where they grew from a British port city of few thousands of people in 1942 to a global city of 5.4 million people today. Limited land, fresh water and other natural resources has been the main challenges that are limiting its growth. This is evident from the land reclamation projects, sand wars with neighbouring countriesand their constant quest for fresh water resources. Land reclamation Today, 24% of Singapore’s total area is reclaimed land. The growth of Singapore put pressure on the limited land availability of the island leading to reclaiming land from the sea. ‘Having imported a reported 517 million tonnes of sand in the last 20 years, Singapore is by far the largest importer of sand world-wide and the world’s highest per capita consumer of sand at 5.4 tonnes per inhabitant’(UNEP, 2014)
Water Reservoirs They converted most of the islands monsoon streams into reservoirs,to make most of the rain water that falls on the island. From 3 reservoirs with 11% of land area as catchment, the island state today has 17 reservoirs with a catchment of 67% of land area. Moreover, since the late 1990s they have developed alternate water sources in the form of desalinated water and reuse of used waters. These two other sources make upto 40% of the water source of Singapore.
Water Reservoirs growth 1942 - present 3 Upper Selator
2 Lower Peirce 4 Upper Peirce 1 McRitchie
Reservoirs in Colonial Singapore 1942
5 Kranji 9 Sarimbun
But today, even after all these innovations Singapore is not self reliant on fresh water. The island city imports 40 percent of water from a river in neighbouring Malaysia.(Dreiseitl, 2010)
7 Murai
8 Poyan 10 Tangeh
6 Pandan
Reservoirs in Singapore 1981
13 Lower Selator 16 Punggol
12 Tekong
14 Bedok
11 Jurong
15 Marina
Reservoirs in Singapore 2015
Graph showing the increasing land area of Singapore.
All images source: Vertical cities Asia Research 2015, Complex projects chair, TU Delft Faculty of Architecture
Alternate methods of water storage Now that Singapore has more than one source of fresh water, the challenge lies in storing the maximum water within the limited land. With desalination and re-use of used water technology progressing everyday, Singapore is no more dependent on the rain water alone. Therefore, what Singapore needs are alternate methods of storing water. Reservoirs Making reservoirs and storing the rain water for later use was the main strategy undertook by Singapore for its fresh water resources. But with the growing population, limited land and advancing technology, Singapore needs to look into alternate methods of water storage. The present reservoir system has few drawbacks. a) It consumes a vast area of the city state: The reservoirs add upto about 25% of the land area of the island b) Being exposed to the harsh tropical sun throughout the year, the reservoirs loss a high amount of its water through evaporation. d) Many of the reservoirs, being built more than a century ago, are limited in their depths. Therefore, the volume of water those reservoirs can store are low compared to the surface area it occupies in the growing city. c) The contradiction of safeguarding water bodies against the fundamental human yearning for water bodies is a more ethical and social question that can arise. The reservoirs being the main source of fresh water, most of them are safeguarded against any human intervention or pollution. – Therefore, in Singapore the opportunities for water in everyday public life is very limited.
Storing water under the city Water management systems that run under the city is not a new concept. The qanats system of Persia had implemented it in 4th century BC, where qanats distributed and stored fresh water under the city, from a mother well located at a distant source. Similarly, underground of the city of Singapore can be used to the store the fresh water. The rain water can be collected by the buildings and public spaces, and stored below the ground. This fresh water stored under the ground, can be circulated through the city. The circulation process of water can be used to enhance the public space quality for the people, as well as to filter the water through natural filtration. For instance,the Dutch water systems use reef beds in the water channels to filter and clean the moving water.
More Resources Excavating the soil to increase the water storage capacity gives additional resources in the form of sand and clay, which can be used for building the city. For example,the old alluvium soil in the eastern part of the island are already used in the building industry. More land area can be used to accommodate the growing population, and the evaporation loss of water due to exposed surface water can be controlled. The storage of desalinated water, reused water and the rain water can thus be integrated together into a single system of water storage under the city. This water storage throughout the city provides more opportunities and possibilities of bringing water into the everyday life of citizens. Integrating these surface water bodies with the existing green network will enhance the public spaces and have positive effects in the ecology of the island. Storm water Management The storm water can be treated on the site and the public spaces can be adapted to store more water during heavy storms. The water square of the city can thus combine water storage with the improvement of the quality of urban public space.
Adaptive public spaces to store more water during heavy storm (Source : De Urbanisten , Water Squares, 2006-2010 ( http:// www.urbanisten.nl/wp/?portfolio=waterpleinen )
Building as rain water collectors
Filtration
Water Storage
Conceptual section showing the possibility of storing water under the buildings and circulating them in the public spaces All images source: Vertical cities Asia Research 2015, Complex projects chair, TU Delft Faculty of Architecture
Conclusions The essay looked at the history of the fresh water management of Singapore, and concluded the pivotal role water played in the morphological development of the city. Further, the exponential growth of Singapore in the past 50 years in terms population, economy and trade and its effect on the limited land and water resources of the island were studied. This showed the quest of Singapore for water self -sufficiency and their innovation spirit through creating alternate sources of fresh water. The third part of the essay, provides a solution for the water management of the city through storage of fresh water within the built environment. The research showed that, the next stumbling block in attaining water self sufficiency for Singapore will be the lack of storage space for the water that they generate through desalination , reused water and rain water. Therefore, integrating the water storage for the city within the built environment and using them to enhance the public life of the city could be an optimal solution for Singapore to sustain and grow over the coming years.
References Babu, P. S., n.d. Flexible solutions. [Online] Available at: http://www.flexiblesolutions.com/ products/watersavr/documents/ReductionofEvaporativeLossesfromTropical.pdf [Accessed May 2015]. Dreiseitl, H., 2010. New waterscapes for Singapore. In: M. Mostafavi, ed. Ecological Urbanism. s.l.:Müller, p. 218. Tortajada, C., 2013. The Singapore Water Story. s.l.:Taylor and Francis. UNEP, 2014. UNEP. [Online] Available at: http://www.unep.org/pdf/UNEP_ GEAS_March_2014.pdf [Accessed 30 May 2015].