Today, Singapore has in place a sustainable water supply system through a diversified supply strategy with four different sources, namely:

• Local catchments,
• Imported water,
• NEWater (or recycled water) and
• Desalinated water.

• Marina Barrage / Reservoir Scheme
  The Marina Barrage is a dam built across the Marina Channel. It acts as a tidal barrier that prevents high tides from flooding inland low-lying areas while at the same time creating a fresh water reservoir. This unique 3-in-1 project provides three main benefits: Water Supply, Flood Control and a New Lifestyle Attraction.
• Punggol Serangoon Reservoir Scheme
  Two new reservoirs will be created in the northeast of Singapore, when Sungei Punggol and Sungei Serangoon are dammed. They will create Singapore’s 16th and 17th reservoirs.

NEWater is a result of applying advanced membrane technologies to produce ultra-clean water. NEWater is highly valued by the industries, and can meet 30% of Singapore’s total water demand by 2010, up from 15% today.

• Ulu Pandan NEWater Factory
  Singapore's fourth NEWater plant is a result of a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) between Keppel Integrated Engineering and PUB, the national water agency. It is the first NEWater plant to be designed, built, owned and operated by the private sector. With an additional capacity of 32 million gallons of NEWater per day, NEWater can now meet 15% of Singapore’s water needs, a target originally set to be met by 2010.
• Changi NEWater Factory
  The tender for Singapore's fifth and largest NEWater Factory was awarded to Sembcorp Utilities under the Design, Build, Own and Operate (DBOO) agreement in Jan 2008. The Changi NEWater Plant will have an initial capacity of 15 million gallons per day in 2009, which will be ramped up to 50 million gallons per day by 2010.

Singapore’s first desalination plant was commissioned in 2005 under a Design, Build, Own and Operate (DBOO) agreement with SingSpring Pte Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyflux Ltd. The SingSpring desalination plant is PUB’s pioneering public-private partnership (PPP) project under the DBOO arrangement. Under this partnership, SingSpring will supply 30 million gallons of water a day (136,380 cubic metres) to PUB for 20 years.


In the 1960's, an intensive sewage development programme was established to meet the demands of Singapore’s rapid housing and industrialisation programme. Today, used water is collected through a network of underground sewers that leads to the water reclamation plants (WRP, or sewage treatment plants). This network is separate from the stormwater collection system, where stormwater and surface runoff are collected in open drains and channelled to rivers and reservoirs. Thanks to these initiatives, 100% of Singapore's population today is served by modern sanitation. To further meet the long-term used water needs of Singapore, Phase 1 of the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) will be implemented, and is due for completion in 2008.

• DTSS and Changi WRP
  The DTSS was conceived as a long term solution to meet the needs for used water collection, treatment and disposal to serve the development of Singapore through the 21st Century. Deep tunnels with diameters of up to 6 metres will be built at depths ranging from 20m to 50m metres below ground. A network of smaller link-sewers connects the existing network of sewers to the tunnels. Under Phase 1 of the DTSS, a deep tunnel will convey used water in the Eastern part of Singapore to a new water reclamation plant (WRP) at Changi. The treated effluent from Changi WRP will be used in the production of NEWater at the upcoming Changi NEWater Factory. With Phase 1 of the DTSS in place, the existing WRPs at Kim Chuan, Bedok and Seletar along with their pumping stations will be phased out. The WRP at Kim Chuan has already been phased out in Feb 2008.