Water demand expected to almost double over the next 30 years: PM Lee

SINGAPORE currently consumes 430 million gallons of water per day, and water demand is expected to almost double in the next 30 years, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Thursday.

Speaking at the official opening of Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant, he said local catchments and water imported from Malaysia are already insufficient to meet daily needs, and supply has been supplemented with NEWater and desalination.

Keppel's Marina East desalination plant is the country's fourth plant. In a few months, a fifth plant will open on Jurong Island.

PM Lee said the challenge with desalination is to carry out the process in large volumes and in an energy-efficient and cost-effective way. He added that technologies and capabilities have improved, so each new plant produces desalinated water more efficiently.

However, he noted that producing each additional drop of water gets harder and harder, and more and more expensive.

"We require more infrastructure, new technologies, more extensive treatment, all of which inevitably means a higher incremental cost," he said.

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Apart from cost, PM Lee said climate change is also making weather conditions more volatile around the world, and it will become harder to ensure a stable and reliable water supply.

Last month was the second wettest January on record; the reservoirs have been filled, and Linggiu Reservoir in Johor is currently full, he noted.

"But it is just as easy to imagine more frequent and longer periods of drought," he added, noting that this happened in 2016, when Linggiu Reservoir went down to just a fifth of its capacity.

"It was a vivid reminder of why we have to be obsessed with saving water, and making every drop count."

The government will continue to plan ahead to build up infrastructure ahead of time, and to invest and develop new technologies to secure the country's water supply, he pledge, but urged Singaporeans to also play a part and use water only when they truly need to.

"Because for us, water is not an inexhaustible gift of nature," PM Lee said. "It is a strategic and scarce resource, and also a precious fruit of our labours, always to be husbanded and used wisely."

The Keppel Marina East plant will be able to produce 30 million gallons of potable water daily. It is Singapore's first desalination plant that can process both seawater and rain water. In dry weather, the plant will treat seawater like the other desalination plants; during the rainy season, like last month, the plant will draw fresh water from Marina Reservoir. Treating fresh water consumes less energy than treating seawater.