While it was painted as though Singapore was fleecing Malaysia, the video overlooked 2 key points (which Malaysia politicians also like to overlook) when talking about this issue. (1) Singapore bore the full cost of making it possible to import water from Malaysia (there was no help from Malaysia, even though it was a far richer country in the past) including dams, pumps, pipes and other compensation to stakeholders. (2) The cost for Singapore to treat the water was RM2.40 (which means Singapore made a loss of RM1.90 after the mandated price of RM0.50). Malaysia then resells the water back to their citizens at RM3.95 (effectively making a profit of RM3.45 with little to no effort)... Singapore had also supplied more water when requested (effectively taking more loss while the Malaysia government made more profit)...
But you fail to realize that without Malaysia's raw water (which is a vital resource, even much more than oil) at such a lopsided agreement of 3 Malaysian cents per 1000 gallons (Singapore takes 250'000 gallons per day) from Johore, there will NOT be any civilization or business or residents able to thrive and live there. And this agreement last for 99 years from 1962 to 2061 (back then was on the pretext of merger with Malaysia) but Singapore still continue paying such low price for the whole period. Plus during some drought months, after SG took 250K gallons per day, Malaysia have to buy back at higher price from SG. So SG have to thank Malaysia for its goodwill . this secret advantage is what made SG rich and thriving with this vital resource. The only time the agreement was to price reviewed was on its 25th year at 1987 which PM-4 Mahathir was suppose to review but did not.
@@jameslim3850 Ah, the age-old Mahathir rhetoric, that Singapore has to be grateful, because without the precious life-giving water flowing from Malaysia, Singapore would never have become so prosperous. Hell, Singapore would have never even been alive. So Singapore has to thank Malaysia, because Malaysia allowed Singapore to be alive and therefore so rich and prosperous, and if not for Malaysia's generosity Singapore would never even survive. As you say, in 1987, PM Mahathir was meant to review the price and did not, but all through the ages he's been bellyaching about it. I wonder why. He had the chance to review it but did not, and yet very tactically at very strategic points in the politics of Malaysia, Mahathir very cleverly brings up the water issue yet again, even though he is bound by the agreement and his failure to review the price. Perhaps he actually wants to say out loud that he chose to let Singapore live and therefore we should be grateful to him for our prosperity because he gave it to us. Because, you know, had Malaysia kept the water to themselves Singapore would have starved and died, and also Malaysia would've been far more prosperous. Somehow while Malaysia was an equal party to the deal, and while they weren't forced into it, and while Malaysia still has very real advantages as a result of the deal, Mahathir wants to make it sound like Malaysia got swindled out of a good price, and Singapore is this conniving, thieving nation that refused to 'fairly' revise the price. In fact, they didn't revise this price specifically because they thought Singapore would also revise the price of treated water supplied to Malaysia. Also very interesting, Johor State Aseembly Speaker Zainalabidin Mohd Zain defended this decision, saying that Johor had not made a mistake in pressing for a review. Also, you say the agreement was made under pretext of merger with Malaysia. That's disinformation in its finest. Water agreements were re-negotiated and guaranteed by the Msian Govt in the Separation Agreement in 1965. It's not as if it was agreed upon in 1962 under a different context where Singapore swindled its way in and then refused to budge on it later on capitalising on an unfairly-gained advantage. Oh, also conveniently left out are two facts that Singapore paid for the desalination plants in Malaysia, and the fact that Singapore essentially heavily subsidises the water supplied to Johor. To Singapore, this has always been a win-win. You give us water cheaply, we give you treated water back at subsidised rates. Interestingly, to Mahathir, Singapore still has to be grateful because without which we will never be alive. Last but not least, Mahathir has at times threatened to turn off the tap. If he was trying to look like the gracious benefactor of life-giving waters to Singapore before, it's ironic because now he's threatening to cut off this precious resource, hitherto agreed upon, so as to manipulate Singapore. There's something to be said about gentlemen and agreements, and Malaysia, at least under Mahathir, has regularly chosen not to honour their agreements. We're not just talking about verbal agreements, we're talking about agreements which are signed and binding under international law. Is Malaysia a nation that makes agreements, and thereafter walks back on them when they feel like it?
One thing that separates Singapore from its counterparts is that the government has largely been proactive with critical infrastructure. They know what's important and take long,careful steps to carry out their plans. Not like other governments where its all reactionary and based on what voters want
u can almost never do this with political parties that keep changing every 5 years or so... Many plans that solve problems take longer than election intervals...
@@acscw8408 Yea that's what's bad about the current system. 5 years is way too short to fix problems. In the end what parties do is just the stuff that makes voters happy which might necessarily not be a good thing.
You're right... and last year the government just announced they will budget 100 billion dollars to build infrastructure against rising sea levels. This will be a long term plan that could take about 100 years...but they have started building innovative sea walls as a prototype.
One thing you overlooked is Singapore separated the industrial/commercial/residential waste water systems from the beginning which though was a huge upfront cost started paying dividends as technology improved and singapore could optimise cleaning strategies which is why so many other countries fail to adopt a similar strategy due to legacy water infrastructure that mix all waste water together
@@jont2576 All industrial waste water are treated before discharging back into the sea for god sake, there are clear regulations about this. Go read up.
11:41 - "When we talk about water scarcity, what we really mean is water mismanagement." Bingo. Singapore's actions -- recycling water and increasing its price -- are the right moves.
Think a reason why Singapore is water-stressed despite its tropical climate bringing high rainfall is because much of our land is urbanised (~60%), so there's a high chance your canals & draininage systems are collecting the rain in urban areas, where it could be contaminated e.g. by litter, asphalt & it's too expensive to treat that water, so the water ends up being drained straight out back to the sea instead of being harvested & treated for drinking
I remember the animation showing how small the membrane's pores are. If they're the size of a tennis ball, then bacterium would be the size of a bus, so the animation showed a bus (representing a bacterium) crashing into wall with tennis ball-sized holes (representing the membrane). Predictably the bus wasn't allowed entry past the wall
Dont forget it costs Singapore RM2.40 to maintain the dam and treat every thousand gallon of water. By selling at 50 sen, Singapore is providing a subsidy of RM1.90 per thousand gallons of water and the malaysian govt knows this :(
Also the Singapore govt is expected to give away the water plants and dams built on Johor which is paid for and rent paid by the SG government when the lease ends. it's really not that one sided a deal as the 1962 agreement entails. Also the 1962 agreement the one agreement that guarantees Singapore's independence legally, if we were to amend that, it would equate to amending our independence.
water price is still very cheap even after these cost are took into account. raw untreated water china supply to hong kong cost RM14.50 per thousand gallons.
Singapore is indeed a prosperous and well-managed city state. The government is always planning way ahead. Besides tackling the water supply problem, they are always setting targets to solve or mitigate future problems such as food sufficiency, energy sufficiency, climate change and global warming. While some cities around the world are sinking, Singapore is already working on the problem of rising sea level and devise a $100 billion plan to protect its coastal areas from flooding.
It's funny how all its problems it claims to tackle are all problems created by itself......30 years ago none of these problems existed......now we have one in 50 year floods thanks to endless construction and urbanisation that the ground covered by cement and concrete cannot absorb all the natural rainfall.....skyrocketing housing prices,insane cost of living, insufficient water,when Malaysia was selling us water we could subsist on Malaysian piped water alone.....now we need multiple reservoirs ,recycled toilet water and desalination plants to cope with the demand.....island warming problem.....thanks to the explosion in population and traffic in the last fifteen years.
@@jont2576 Comparing what happened 30 years ago and today is akin to compare 30 years ago prata cost and today's cost, which is stupid as you clearly didnt take into account global warming and rising sea levels both of which highly contributed to floods
@@Kumomo92 Singapore is suffering from something far worse than global warming.....it's suffering from island warming......lmao u seriously think "'gloabal warming" and so called rising sea level would have that much of an impact and not the mass buildup of concrete and infrastructure over the past 10,15 years and the human and vehicular traffic and the fact the population literally exploded like 50% over the past 20 years from 4.0 million at the beginning of the 21st century? Despite our birth rate being below 1.5 for the last 10 years???
@@jealouseggs5619 Yes, a tiny red dot alone causing the ice in the Antarctica to melt, rising sea levels and causing many cities around the world to sink. What a powerful and great city state! Good reply to @Jon T.
The video omits several important considerations: whilst used water can be recycled or obtained from the sea, both require substantial investments and a high selling price of the produced water. Additionally significant amounts of energy for the process. This works in a very rich country like Singapore, but it is not a straightforward solution to poor countries like India. Hats off to the island state for its ingenuity!
Indeed, the water infrastructure is not cheap and it is far more complex than explained in the video. Many cities could have better manage their water. Cities with abundant supplies of groundwater tends to overuse them and end up with sinking ground and increasingly contaminated groundwater, e.g. Bangkok, Jakarta, many cities in China, Colorado, etc.
While the high cost of required is being true, such project are generally suppose to be ran by the government. Providing accessible drinkable water is a must for the citizen, in my opinion. Singapore does not have access to freshwater rivers and lakes like other countries does, that is why the government in Singapore push for such technology to developed to safeguard our basic needs.
Singapore also taxes 30% of our water bills, which goes up to 45% if your consumption exceeds a certain level (unless you're a commercial/industrial consumer)
@@NewmaticKe Remarkable that consumption is so high, that there isn't enough space to capture enough the rain water to disperse it throughout the year.
Absolutely love Singapore, the most amazing place in the world, have been visiting since the early 80s, hope to go again when this horrible crap in the world abates. So much love from Osaka, Japan...Stay safe my friends....
In the US, in the state of California, Orange County (the place where Disneyland, not world land is) has been recycling toilet water for years for domestic use. They didn't make a big deal about it and so most people still don't know. The reason the OC did it was not actually about drought. The OC still gets a lot of its drinking water from underground reservoirs. The problem is over the last century many industrial factories have existed in and around the OC. At the end of the 1990's pollutants from long gone factories started making it down to the ground water (which is deep in Socal). It got to the point that it was literally safer to recycle toilet water, then to try and clean the water coming out of the ground. It's just a side effect that the OC doesn't face water mandatory water restrictions like a lot of Socal. It still follows them in solidarity with the rest of region. But the OC has been selling it's treated water to surrounding counties for decades now. Which is ironic because the OC asked surrounding counties to join the bond issue to build the recycling plants and it would share the water. The surrounding counties thought it was too extreme and declined.
Additionally In south of Orange County, in San Diego county we have the Poseidon's Carlsbad plant, the biggest desalination plant in North America, which helps convert salt water into freshwater.
There is no direct reuse of wastewater for domestic water in Orange County or California or anywhere in the US. They treat sewage and inject it into the ground, and that water is eventually pumped out again by the wells. Yes, there are plans for direct reuse where sewage is treated and pumped directly back into the domestic water system, but they have not begun doing this. I don't know if others have come on line, but as of three years ago only Singapore and Australia were operating direct reuse water treatment plants. California and the US are still working out how to ensure sewage is reliably, adequately treated for human consumption.
@@michaelb1761 The reverse osmosis technology used by Singapore was initially imported from Israel before our own developments. The advantage was that it could be used for both reused water and salt water. The bigger issue might not be the technology itself, but the sewage system to divert waste water properly, especially if there is already an existing sewage system.
The engineers in charge of the project actually went to the more developed western countries to seek help and collaboration, but was rejected by all of them, with one in the US accusing the team of stealing their company's patent. After a few years, the project realized that, like many other things in life: if you want something done, do it yourself. From there onward, the team went out plan, design and developed the whole new-water thingy. During that time period when the government tried to push the new-water concept to all of Singapore, the kids at school are given the presentation of the concept of new-water. In very dumb down wording by the engineers explaining to us kids: "We use your pee/waste, heat and clean it till it is water, then heat and clean again till it is drinkable. " . After that, bottled new-water are given to public school for free consumption for a period of time., then the bottled water is slowly introduced to the public in government-related events as free gift and such. Initially there are some who are against the new-water concept but slowly forgotten as time went on. The new--water is so great that the government listed the new-water plant as one of the national sites to visit if one is accepted as a Singapore citizen. Singapore is slowly becoming self-sustaining when it comes to water issue, there have been no water shortages in Singapore for the longest period of time, and the tap water can be consume directly unlike the neighboring countries. Sure, the cost of water is going to rise further in the future when/if Singapore do not renew the water contact with Malaysia, with time we will slowly integrate. With high standard of living, comes high cost as they say.
Singapore pay for the dam, pay for the pipes, pay for the land, pay for the workers in MALAYSIA, subsidize the treated water back to Malaysia, at the end of the contract, give everything including plants, dams all back to Malaysia. Malaysia sits there, no need pay workers, no need mantain pipes, plants etc. Get money. Yes very good neighbor and unfair ya.
Yup and of course this information was not made available to the public. Instead they keep harping on the 3sens. Typical strategy of their politician to divert attention away from domestic issues
when ur government is a greedy brastard and tries to squeeze 6 million people so they can grow gdp and the tax revenue base on a land mass of barely 700sqkm.......making it the top 3 humanly dense places in the world.....singapore is 10 times more crowded than melbourne cbd on a friday night. living in singapore is like living in a pressure cooker.....when i look at a map i see hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of barely inhabited land around us in indonesia in malaysia in thailand......but ur stuck in singapore with half the population of asia...... sometimes i wonder instead of living in a tiny 90 sq meter concrete shoe box that cost me half a million dollars.....what kind of villa and inifinity pool overlooking a cliff and the pacific ocean if i was in say indonesia.....
I have been to Singapore many times and enjoyed my time there immensely. It is so well-planned and maintained city state. Although it is quite small but it feels spacious with plenty of vegetation and trees lined the street. It is a wonderful place to live!!😀😀😀
Singapore wants to reduce dependence on Malaysia for water. It is a strategic resource and cannot be in control of another nation state. And Malaysia has threatened to cut it off in the past. So it's basic risk management and mitigation. Good onya Singapore.
As a chinese person who grew up in China and US, I really enjoyed my stay in Singapore. For me, it's even better than the US and way better than China.
how the fk are they going to transport electricity over 6000km without a massive loss in current? might as well build the solar farm in malaysia and pipe it in......
one minor point that was not mentioned in the video is that loss of water supply due to leakage in pipe network is very low. In 2020, there were five leaks per 100km of pipes per year - down from 10 leaks per 100km of pipes in 2014 - among the lowest incidence rates in the world.
1:08 - 1:14 Why did he display Singapore as a Chinese country when we literally got 4 official languages and our native people are the orang laut which is Malay.
There is 2 other points not mentioned that is also important to how Singapore manage its water. The first is the enclosing most part of island so that most of the island serves to harvest the rainwater, leaving little water escaping into the sea. The other strategy is to reduce personal water consumption which has fallen from 165 litres (per person per day) in 2000 to 141 litres 2018.
Teaching children not to waste water in kindergartens and the proper place to throw their rubbish help to instil good habits that last throughout their lives.
Malaysia had an opportunity to review the water agreements, specifically the 3 sens sold for the untreated water and 50 sens purchased price of treated water. Malaysia decided not to. The reason is very simple: it costs more than 50 sens to treat 1000 gallons of drinkable water. In other words, Singapore is subsidizing treated water for the State of Johore. And if you consider that the dam and reservoir in Johore is maintained at Singapore's bill, it makes little economic sense for Malaysia to adjust the pricing. But of course the Malaysia Govt does not bring this up when they want to use Singapore as a convenient whipping boy. But no worries, we are well on our way to achieving water self sufficiency.
Can technology solve water scarcity? The simple fact is that any technological solution will (almost) certainly mean a dependence on energy - we will need to use energy for desalination and to recycle waste water. The process of Reverse Osmosis will require a lot of energy. Singapore is in a sense exchanging one problem (water scarcity) with another (energy scarcity). But there is a logic to this. Water can only come from water. But there are many ways to make energy. And we are working on it. For example, there is a project underway to generate solar power in the northern deserts of Australia and send the energy by undersea cable to Singapore. The project is expected to come online in 2027, and the Sun Cable is expected to provide 20% - 30% of Singapore's energy needs. Singapore is also starting to explore geothermal energy, but this is still only exploratory. Some additional information: NEWater. NEWater (recycled water) was originally developed for industrial use. The Ultra-pure NEWater is very suitable for wafer fabrication. And as mentioned in the video, for industrial air-conditioning/cooling. But when Johor threatened our water supply, we played our NEWater card. NEWater is expected to eventually provide up to 55% of our water needs. And at 2:55, the video notes that industrial use accounts for 55% (to rise to 70%) of water use. Coincidence? The Water Treaties. There were two water treaties. One (the one still in force) was for 99 years (until 2061) and allows Singapore to buy untreated raw river water from the Johor River up to 250 million gallons per day (mgd) for 3 (Malaysian) sen per 1000 gallons. (This was in the 1960s and metric was not in fashion yet. Also British settlement/colony). In return, Singapore was to allow Johor to buy treated water up to 2% of the drawn water - So Singapore draws 250 mgd, and is obliged to sell 2% of 250 mgd or 5mgd of treated water to Johor in return at the price of 50 sen per 1000 gallons. If Johor stuck to the treaty, we would be paying Johor for the raw water, and offsetting the cost of the treated water we provide under the treaty. BUT, Johor requested for MORE than the 5 mgd of treated water. They have a standing request for Singapore to provide 16 mgd of treated water at the same rate - i.e. 50 sen per 1000 gallons. Legally, Singapore is ONLY obligated to sell Johor 5 mgd at 50 sen per 1000 gallons and anything above that amount, Singapore has the right to charge more. But for good relations, Singapore does not. Singapore provided the requested 16 mgd at 50 sen per 1000 gallon. Even tho, the cost of treating water was closer to MYR 2.40 per 1000 gallons. AND Johor charges their residents MYR3.95 per 1000 gallons. (These costs/ estimates were from some years back (2003?), when Singapore and Malaysia was negotiating the extension or renewal of the 2nd water treaty that expired in 2011.) Singapore may have benefitted from the water treaty signed 60 years ago. But so has Johor. They are selling river water. If they did not sell it to Singapore, it flows into the sea. And there are no one else close by that they can sell the river water to. So 3 sen per 1000 gallons is 3 sen more than NOT selling the water to Singapore. In return they can buy treated water at 50 sen per 1000 gallons. Singapore subsidises that at about MYR 1.90 per 1000 gallons. And sells more than Singapore is obliged to. For the 16 mgd of treated water that Johor draws from Singapore, Singapore is subsidising about MYR#30,000 PER DAY. And that's not the best part. That is was Singapore subsidies, so Johor gets the water, but not the money. Johor then sells the treated water to the residents at MYR$3.95 per 1000 gallons. Less the 50 sen they paid for it, they make a clear profit of MYR$3.45 per 1000 gallons. Or about MYR$20 million a year in clear profit. The Expired Treaty from 1961 - 2011 (50 years) allowed Singapore to draw 100 mgd from another river (Tebrau, I think) and obliges Singapore to sell 10 mgd of treated water to Johor at 50 sen per 1000 gallons. Ten years before the expiry of this treaty, Singapore started negotiations to extend the water treaty. Of course we asked for a 100 years extension at the same rate, but would like to draw from the Johor river as the water there is cleaner (Johor has since developed polluting industries around the other river, and the water is, I understand, polluted and untreatable). With his attention drawn to this, the then-PM of Malaysia sought to leverage on Singapore's water insecurity (and dependence on Malaysia water) and extract a higher price for raw water. So the price went up from 3 sen to 30 sen, then 45 sen, then 60 sen, then MYR$3, MYR$6.25, and even MYR$8. At which point Singapore realised that it would be cheaper to desalinate sea water. There's no negotiating with Malaysia's PM (then). So that water agreement (or treaty) lapsed in 2011. And the water treatment facility with a 100 mgd capacity was handed over to Johor. By right, they should have been able to continue to run the facility and produce 100 mgd of treated water for their residents. BUT, their water management and protection of the river failed to keep the water of the Tebrau river clean enough to be treated. So no 100 mgd of treated water. Instead they buy 16 mgd from Singapore. It was the intractable negotiation process for the second (expired) water treaty that showed Singapore that our Water dependence on Malaysia was a strategic weakness, and the need for Singapore to ensure our water security.
We lived in a gated compound in Singapore when I had an ex pat contract with singtel for two years. We lived on the junction of Rifle Range Road and Dunearn Road. We used to watch the storm drains fill up when there was a rain storm and thousands of gallons of water would pass by in minutes. We once watched a Toyota lorry being tumbled past and destroyed in seconds. Amazing and scary at the same time. Singapore is lovely, and one of the nicest places you could ever want to live. (If you have money).
@@bangscutter don't know, but that is what Singtel provided. The flat was wonderful, so was the compound., there was a lovely swimming pool and gardens. Everything was so well looked after. We had a serviced apartment where my wife had to do nothing and a private lift. That's not something I've ever had before or since .
@@bangscutter 90% of Singapore's population live in public housing which are not gated. Yeap...high-rise apartments where anyone can practically walk right up to your door with no barriers or security. Most of the remaining 10% live in private housing which are usually gated for that sense of....poshness....and to justify that astronomical price tag.
Many Malaysians including Ex PM Mahathir forgotten about this supplement agreement to 2061. about Singapore signs a new water agreement with Johor 24th Nov 1990 Singapore signed a new water agreement with the Malaysian state of Johor on 24 November 1990. The agreement was a supplement to the 1962 Johor River water agreement; both agreements would expire in 2061. The 1990 agreement allowed Singapore to build a dam across Sungei Linggiu (a tributary of the Johor River) to facilitate the extraction of water from the Johor River.[1] This was an important arrangement as Singapore was unable to draw the 250 million gallons (approximately 1.14 billion L) per day of water it was entitled to under the 1962 water agreement unless dams were built over certain parts of the river.[2] In exchange for the Linggiu Dam, Singapore would compensate Johor RM$320 million for the land needed to build the dam and its surrounding facilities. This was in addition to a premium of RM18,000 per ha (per 10,000 sq m) and an annual rent of RM30 for every 1,000 sq ft (per 92.9 sq m) of the land.[3] Singapore would also bear the cost of constructing and maintaining the dam, which would be transferred to Johor at a later date.[4] In addition to the construction of the Linggiu Dam, the 1990 water agreement also allowed Singapore to draw beyond the daily limit of 250 million gallons of untreated water from Johor provided in the 1962 agreement.[5] The additional water would be processed in Johor, and its price would be determined by a formula based on the price of water sold in Singapore and the price of water sold in Johor.[6] Together with the water agreement signed, there was also another agreement signed with Malaysian oil company Petronas that secured the supply of 150 million cu ft (about 4.2 million cu m) of natural gas from Terengganu to Singapore.[7] Talks leading up to the 1990 water agreement had begun as far back as August 1982 when Singapore and Malaysia agreed to study ways, including the joint development of new water facilities, to enable both Singapore and Johor to draw more water from the Johor River to meet their future needs.[8] However, progress was slow as negotiations were hampered by several obstacles, including the premium for the gas and additional water to be paid by Singapore. It required the prime ministers of both Singapore and Malaysia to step in on numerous occasions between August 1986 and January 1988 before a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) - covering the future sales of water and gas to Singapore and two proposed transport links between Singapore and Johor - was concluded on 28 June 1988.[9] Following the signing of the1990 water agreement, Singapore proceeded to build the Linggiu Dam. The dam, together with other saddle embankments and ancillary works to create the Linggiu Reservoir, was completed in April 1993 at a cost of S$310 million.[10] The facility enabled Singapore to draw up to 250 million gallons of water per day from the Johor River.[11]
@@KeoNz yalor, the RM$320 million compensation was pocketed by Johore Govt instead of federal administration that initiated the revision of contract rates in 1987, that’s why he was still mad with Muhyiddin till to date.
It’s important to note that when the water deal was signed, in 1962, Singapore was a state of the Malaysian Federation. Malaysia’s parliament expelled Singapore from the union in 1965 over racial conflict (Singapore is majority-minority for Malaysia, and the conservative block in Malaysia feared their voting power). Existing agreements, such as the water deal, survived the expulsion. This history gives Singapore little incentive to revisit the deal with Malaysia today: they didn’t voluntarily secede, they were kicked out of a country for being too racially diverse and for voting too far leftward.
@@millevenon5853 It was a part of malaysia, which was&is majority malay, therefore Singapore was majority-minority for Malaysia when SG was a part of Msia as its majority race was Chinese.
Agree with Chee Liang Shi about the cost of importing the raw water from Malaysia. Singapore bore all the costs while Malaysia benefits from the clean water resupplied to them. Their government are fleecing their own people by reselling the clean water to the at such a high price when they did not have to do anything at all and they still complain about selling the water to Singapore at such a low price. The ordinary Malaysians need to know that it is their own government who is to blame for the cost of their water.
If you see the amount of virgin sand used to "reclaim" land in Singapore, I'm sure Singapore is really worried about the extra salt too. There is a PR "green" version and the real science version of Singapore and the two are no where close.
According to PUB (Singapore) the brine is dumped back into the sea. The waste product is not salt actually. It's concentrated seawater, which contains a lot of stuff other than salt. It's not likely to affect marine life in the southern parts of Singapore. At the northern parts, we are actually setting up more fish farms.
"Will Singapore's technology mean the end of water scarcity?" With the cost and energy requirement? Hardly. It's not an approach that would work in poorer countries. Bad water management usual goes hand in hand with political corruption, kleptocracy and being broke af. The country's that most need these solutions won't be able to pay for such facilities. If one could avoid contamination of waste water by separating the graywater/sewage, and by banning certain pollutants from use, then I assume you could cut a few steps out of the treatment process. Ultimately the "critical" water need is domestic water for cooking, sanitation and drinking (also subsistence farming). That probably accounts for a small percentage, but should be GUARANTEED as a human right.
The Sg water self sufficiency idea and policy was conceived by our founding PM when we were kick up of Malaysia in Aug 1965. We have no natural resources of our own, the Malaysian politicians were hoping we will die & scramble back to them for mercies. But our then PM Lee Kuan Yew promised us during 09 Aug 1965 announcement of independence that “Singapore will survive.” And survived we did as we trust and worked hand in glove with our government. We were penniless at independence and through sheer hard work, bold vision and our dreams were realized. It took us decades to build up our finances, monetary reserves to fund the expensive New Water Treatment facilities and Sea water desalination plants. So poor countries need not despair. U already have a small country that shows the way to achieve your dreams for peace & prosperity. All u need is effective govt which will not tolerate corruption and is committed to better the livelihood of its people and the country.
@@leewn2319 Singapore will survive....like Singapore did not survive for the past 150 years. Singapore GDP per cap was not even considered poor...slightly above average.....not as rich as western coutries but for Asia was pretty damn rich.
Johor has plenty of water, and excellent mountain water too. Many johoreans are working in Singapore, and a lot of Singaporeans visitors to Johor. Both benefits from working with each other, complementing one another. It’s the stupid federation government that keeps putting barriers and meddling in on all the affairs.
They want more money Everytime they want more money they try their hardest to get it from Singapore, like raising tolls at the checkpoint. Johor always tries but fail to reject the increase as it's Johoreans working in SG that pays the toll but the federal government that gets the benefits of increased fees
It’s not true. There are several occasions where Johore state were going through drought seasons and water rationing were imposed. The water drawn from Linggiu dam was at dangerous Low level and nothing was able to be extracted from the dam where the the Johore waterwork which is at upstream and SG PUB waterwork at downstream. But SG continue to supply 3 x times the 12% in the contracts amount to 33% filtered and clean water back to Johore people. This shows that SG is already sufficient with its 17 water reservoirs with 5 NEWater plants and 4 desalination plants even during the severe drought seasons in Johore.
selling 1000 gallon at 3 RM cents and buying back at 50 RM cents is just part of the story. The treatment cost per 1000 gallon is 2.40 RM and there is also a need to mention that johor sells water back to its own citizens at 3.95 RM. do the maths..
@@Adscam water drops from the sky free of charge. Of course it should be free. Singapore is, however, paying entirely for the entire infrastructural processes needed to bring the water to Singapore. So who is getting money for doing nothing, and who is getting treated water for a steal? If Johor can do it themselves for much cheaper, they would have done it a long, long time ago. Pretty obvious why they are happy to continue this arrangement. 🤣
Looking at the video (and a quick superficial look at the comment section), Singapore's water solution and the subsequent business model reminds me quite a bit of how the Dutch do water management. (I'm Dutch)
Hi, it is a bit like the Singapore lack of natural gas for energy. I think 90-95% of our electrical supply is generated from the natural gas supply from Natura, Riau Islands. Indonesia. You have Shell oil/gas fields but we don’t have any. We are very dependent on our close neighbours for basic resources but most Singaporeans are not even aware of this.
Singapore took a lot of advice from Albert Winsemius. A Dutch economic advisor to Singapore. He has a street named after him. However the location is known as a good place for cheap beer :)
G'day, Anthropogenic Global Warming and Sea-Level Rise means that ALL efforts at "Island Building" are totally wasted exercises in Pathological Denialism... Exactly as stupid as every Halfwit who owns Land and Property or relies on Infrastructure sited within 20 metres of Sea Level. LOTS of Wishfool Thunkers are about to discover that Reality Awareness Therapy washes their silliness away for good. Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
@@grozaphy Haha! Well it is the same situation across the rest of the world ain't it. Just because it isn't reported doesn't mean it isn't happening. LOL!
I'll let critics (or haters) of Singapore fill you in on what we're doing wrong. I'll touch on why Singapore's success is not replicable in other countries... maybe. This is just my opinion. 1) Integrity of the Public Service/Anti-corruption stance. I believe this is the foundation of Singapore's success. From the 1960s when Singapore started governing itself, Lee Kuan Yew set the standard to root out corruption in the civil service, in public service, and even in private "undertakings" - Yes, there was corruption in undertakers and funeral services even. Google Transparency International. Singapore is ranked 4th in 2021. 2) Geography/geology/demography. Singapore is a small city state. There is no hinterland. There is no rural population. It is 720 sq km it total. You can drive across the island in 30 minutes (approx 40 km across). 45 minutes if you are a careful driver. This means that in politics there are no politicians trying to curry favour with the rural voters and pit them against the Urban voters. The island is relatively flat, so there are no "East-siders" vs the "West-enders" separated by a central mountain range. Yes, at one time we tried to pretend that there were "heartlanders" and "cosmopolitans" (not a drink). 80% (0r more) of the population live in public housing. And anywhere else in the world "public housing" is a term of derision, pity, and possibly horror. Not in Singapore. It is part of who we are. We are generally a homogeneous population and that makes it easier for policies to benefit most of us. 3) Constant tweaking. China had the one-child policy, we had the "Stop at Two" population policy. Then in 1984, we started to reverse course. And the "Stop at Two" was rescinded around 1990, and the "baby bonus" scheme started a few years before that, I believe. The point is, times changes and policies needs to change with it. Policies need to meet the needs. These are the three main points I can think of. Are there countries that have tried Singapore's way of doing thing. Yes. China. Look how well they have done. BUT... in the housing sector they have tried to do as Singapore did but with corruption and lack of integrity, the Chinese housing market has been exploitative. And has or will be crashing. The govt should have been tweaking policies earlier, but they didn't and it got really bad. I hear Rwanda is sort of like Singapore, but I do not know enough about it. But I understand it is doing well. Here is an example of how Singapore does Health care well: ua-cam.com/video/WtuXrrEZsAg/v-deo.html The video (Dr Aaron) explains that Singapore is open to change, and is constantly tweaking policies when it does not work, which brings me to the 4th reason: 4) Pragmatic, Practical, non-Ideological. A lot of politicians are ideologues. Their opinion and solutions are informed by their ideology. Singapore has no ideological baggage. We do what works. We choose what works. Ideology be damned.
Humanity has gravely mismanaged its water resources. As sea levels rise due to global warming (freshwater aquifers will be salinised) and states and countries fight for a greater share of dwindling water supply for agriculture and human consumption, these technologies to reuse/recycle used water will be crucial in time to come. Singapore is showing how it can be done.
11:02 Not true, Israel is already at well over 50% desalinated or recovered water, and over 70% if one counts agriculture - unless you really only count reclaimed water. Israel isn't aiming for 50%+ reclaimed water, so it will never get there. Now Israel is finishing a pipeline that will use desalinated water to supplement its few rivers and lakes when there is an overabundance of desalinated water but not enough natural flow. But that is not to take away from what Singapore is doing. More power to them! The two countries are great friends anyway.
The headwaters of the New Zealand river, the Taramakau receives 1.8 metres, annually. My Great Grandfather was sent to survey a road there. We always wondered why the road was abandoned.
One further development not mentioned in the video is building the Long Island scheduled to be completed by possibly latest by 2050, this is going to add in a huge man made reservoir just south of current East Coast Park help increase water catchment.
If every country with coastlines set up desalination plants with effective supply chain then there won't be consumable water scarcity ever. Even deserts will be used for cultivation of crops
singapore is hot, humid country with lots of air-conditioner if there is a centralize way to collect all the water from all the individual air-con units in each building, it will be a significant volume of water too
Singapore has a tropical climate which is warm and humid, with abundant total annual rainfall of approximately 2,200 mm. Generally, the eastern parts of Singapore receive less rainfall compared to other parts of the island. The winds are generally light but with a diurnal variation due to land and sea breezes. That is 88 inches per square meter and with a 728.6 km² land area of which half will be the base for our calculation. At 364 square kilometers which is 100 hectares per square kilometer. That's 2.2 cubic meters of water per square meter x 10,000 per square meters per hectare = 22,000 cubic meters per hectare x 100 hectares per square kilometer = 2,200,000 cubic meters per square kilometer x 364 kilometers = 800,800,000 cubic meters per year. At a population of 6 million that is 133.467 cubic meters per Singaporean per year. Using a multi-waste stream super critical wet oxidation process being used by the U.S Navy and by certain industries, it can become a self-sustaining process as long as there is a sufficient organic content in the waste stream or sewage and will turn everything into fresh water.
Singapore can try bringing water from the South Pole (Antarctica). Just have a fleet of sufficient huge tankers transporting ice / water from Antarctica to Singapore which can replace water imported from Johore. A thought worth considering and evaluating.
Malaysia gets free freshwater from rainfall which they DO NOT use and would end up in the sea. Singapore buys that water a cheap price of RM0.03 per 1000 gallons. Singapore spends RM2.40 to purify said 1000 gallons and sells it to Johor for RM0.50. That means that Singapore is actually subsidising Johor water. It is the federal government of Malaysia that does not like the deal, the state government of Johor absolutely loves it because they get super cheap water. This deal is widely misunderstood, it is Malaysia that gains monetary benefit from Singapore from discounted water, not the other way around. So why does the federal government not like the deal even though malaysians also benefit from the deal? well, the federal government doesn't like Singapore, and they are willing to forgo cheap drinking water for Johor malaysians to put strategic pressure on Singapore. After all, Johor can live without cheap water, but Singapore cannot live without buying untreated water from Johor. All the talk about price is a a diversion. To add onto this, despite pressure from the federal government to review the price, both the state government of Johor and Singapore opposed this review as both parties see the current deal as mutually beneficial, since the state government is more concerned with its residents that international politics.
Singapore seems to have exhausted places to have water catchment area. What they can do is to consider building/digging really, really deep huge caverns to store water like aquifers The same as they have done to store hydrocarbons/oil under Jurong Island.
We will still need to import water from Malaysia even after that agreement lapses. But it will be more expensive for sure so we have to build whatever water resources now to be maybe even 75% self sufficiency
No worries, as long the relationship between Singapore and Johore is good, not even Malaysian government can interfere. Malaysia is a federal country and each of her states have full control over land and water. The federal government may despise the agreement but the state has nothing to lose, the water will end up in the sea anyway. Maybe the price of water need to be revised to please the state of johor. It’s the johoreans that matters and johore and Singapore is relatively friendly with each other.
No we do not. If we do, it is merely an option to perhaps help reduce the overall water price, or a backup source. In fact, we are already close to being fully self-sufficient today. No need to wait until 2061. The plants we continue to build are to keep in tandem with the rising demand over the next decades.
That will never create enough water for consumption. The amount of electricity used will be astronomical, not to mention the huge size needed for the condenser. So called Aquamakers are just dehumidifers.
@@erictayet you don't use it for the general population and only to generate potable water. It is still a useful technology when applied to certain circumstances.
Because our politics has been progressively getting worse since the 70s. We were a smart nation once, still are, but its as if we refuse to use those smarts anymore. This country was the first to create a national park system to preserve large swaths of pristine wilderness, the national oil reserve stored in expended salt mines one of the first of its kind, etc etc. The saying goes never talk about politics or religion in polite company; over a hundred years later, this nation’s politics is broken and people have lost their religion. If we want to figure out our problems, we need to engage in gruelling dialogue. But people have become soft mentally in this country, and most aren’t educated well enough to want to think critically for long periods of time, a cause of the education fund being cut virtually ever single year since the 80s.
Desalination plants and water generators combined would give us all seemingly endless clean water, salt supplies and clean energy. Not sure why we aren't already using them were needed.
@@tnk4me4 yeah, you need a place on land to put the brine. Or it will harm the ocean. America can just put the brine in our salt flats. It's literally already full of salt.
Your report is good but when come to our historical link with Msia, i suggest you do your research with more indepth and balance it with truth, not one sided propaganda of their media distortions.
Mahathir wanted to only increase the price of raw water, yet when told that the subsidized price that treated water that Johor would also go up, he chose to forget to renegotiate the water deal. The Johor has been drawing much more than treated water stated in the agreement. Water of Johor river does not flow into reservoir or any catchment, down the stream they got more and more polluted and eventually flow into the sea. Johor now enjoy the best quality of water in the whole Malaysia.
Singapore got Malaysia to thank for its superb water management. Malaysia threatened Singapore that if she doesn't listen to big brother, the big brother will turn off the tap, meaning the water from Johor River. That, started a desperate search for a solution to make sure that such a threat will be futile. Singapore succeeded. Since then, such vile threat to use water as a weapon has stopped. By 2061, Malaysia can go ahead and throw its water to the sea and earn nothing and Singapore can stop supplying treated water. Now, who will get the last laugh?
Interesting upload. My take is that the combination of desalination and fusion reactors will lead to an infinite supply of fresh water in the next few decades (yeah I know….fusion is always 20 years away). But we’ll get there eventually which would mean greening of deserts and other major alterations to the biosphere. Deserts can become carbon sinks in the next century, reversing global warming. They will also become much more attractive places to live, opening up whole new cities in places that are barely habitable today.
Most water is used in agriculture. Singapore imports food and therefore this important factor is left out in the calculation. Nevertheless, it is no question that their improvements to water management seem exemplary.
Most of Singapore's water comes from Osmosis units which use massive quantities of electricity and have to be mixed with other water as it lacks basic chemicals for life . The population was originally capped at 3 m matching its food and water resources , then was doubled , making it an unsustainable city . The water available from Malaysia has been reduced significantly in recent years by climate change .
I would ‘enclose’ both ends of Pulau Ubin to Singapore to form a very huge reservoir for Singapore future water needs. This massive reservoir will probably bigger than all the present reservoirs combined. Possible? Just take a look at the map of Singapore. Off course it’s possible. We need to think ‘Big’ & for our future need & survival 😳🤔🌈🌱 ….and when Malaysia turn off the ‘tap’ for Singapore.
Don’t worry about Malaysia turning off the tap. 20 years ago could be a problem if they did, but not now, not anymore. Now we have the marina barrage and about 17 reservoirs, we can get by ok. Truth is we have more than enough. We have a water contract with Malaysia so we’ll continue to buy water from them. And since the contract is legally binding, both sides can’t cancel it. Johore will not cancel it because they know it costs cheaper for them to get treated water from us than they treat their own water. It costs us 3 ringgits to treat 1000 gallons of water but we sell this 1000 gallons back to Johore at only 50 sen, so we are in fact selling them the treated water at 90% discount . Imagine if they cancelled the water contract, that means they will lose the benefit of the 90% discount. So instead of paying just 50sen for 1000 gallons of water, they will have to spend 3 ringgits treating their own water. They are not stupid, they know they stand to gain from the water contract, otherwise Mahathir would have really turned off the tap long ago. And if we cancelled the contract, lagi worse still, they’ll blame us till kingdom come...
Actually, you are not the only one who brought up this idea. However, that stretch of water happens to be an international shipping route as it leads to Pasir Gudang Port. The sea north of Pulau Ubin is narrower and less suitable for bigger ships.
Excellent video, I was wondering where Singapore got its water. Can you please tell me what they do with the salt produced from desalination? If it is thrown back into the sea it damages marine life.
It’s easier to pay Malaysia more but when Malaysia wants more and more every year? Or when Malaysia threatens to cut off supply every time there’s a quarrel? Why do you think Singapore invest so much to protect our sovereignty from foreign threats?
While it was painted as though Singapore was fleecing Malaysia, the video overlooked 2 key points (which Malaysia politicians also like to overlook) when talking about this issue. (1) Singapore bore the full cost of making it possible to import water from Malaysia (there was no help from Malaysia, even though it was a far richer country in the past) including dams, pumps, pipes and other compensation to stakeholders. (2) The cost for Singapore to treat the water was RM2.40 (which means Singapore made a loss of RM1.90 after the mandated price of RM0.50). Malaysia then resells the water back to their citizens at RM3.95 (effectively making a profit of RM3.45 with little to no effort)... Singapore had also supplied more water when requested (effectively taking more loss while the Malaysia government made more profit)...
But you fail to realize that without Malaysia's raw water (which is a vital resource, even much more than oil) at such a lopsided agreement of 3 Malaysian cents per 1000 gallons (Singapore takes 250'000 gallons per day) from Johore, there will NOT be any civilization or business or residents able to thrive and live there. And this agreement last for 99 years from 1962 to 2061 (back then was on the pretext of merger with Malaysia) but Singapore still continue paying such low price for the whole period. Plus during some drought months, after SG took 250K gallons per day, Malaysia have to buy back at higher price from SG. So SG have to thank Malaysia for its goodwill . this secret advantage is what made SG rich and thriving with this vital resource. The only time the agreement was to price reviewed was on its 25th year at 1987 which PM-4 Mahathir was suppose to review but did not.
@@jameslim3850 Ah, the age-old Mahathir rhetoric, that Singapore has to be grateful, because without the precious life-giving water flowing from Malaysia, Singapore would never have become so prosperous. Hell, Singapore would have never even been alive. So Singapore has to thank Malaysia, because Malaysia allowed Singapore to be alive and therefore so rich and prosperous, and if not for Malaysia's generosity Singapore would never even survive.
As you say, in 1987, PM Mahathir was meant to review the price and did not, but all through the ages he's been bellyaching about it. I wonder why. He had the chance to review it but did not, and yet very tactically at very strategic points in the politics of Malaysia, Mahathir very cleverly brings up the water issue yet again, even though he is bound by the agreement and his failure to review the price. Perhaps he actually wants to say out loud that he chose to let Singapore live and therefore we should be grateful to him for our prosperity because he gave it to us. Because, you know, had Malaysia kept the water to themselves Singapore would have starved and died, and also Malaysia would've been far more prosperous. Somehow while Malaysia was an equal party to the deal, and while they weren't forced into it, and while Malaysia still has very real advantages as a result of the deal, Mahathir wants to make it sound like Malaysia got swindled out of a good price, and Singapore is this conniving, thieving nation that refused to 'fairly' revise the price. In fact, they didn't revise this price specifically because they thought Singapore would also revise the price of treated water supplied to Malaysia. Also very interesting, Johor State Aseembly Speaker Zainalabidin Mohd Zain defended this decision, saying that Johor had not made a mistake in pressing for a review.
Also, you say the agreement was made under pretext of merger with Malaysia. That's disinformation in its finest. Water agreements were re-negotiated and guaranteed by the Msian Govt in the Separation Agreement in 1965. It's not as if it was agreed upon in 1962 under a different context where Singapore swindled its way in and then refused to budge on it later on capitalising on an unfairly-gained advantage.
Oh, also conveniently left out are two facts that Singapore paid for the desalination plants in Malaysia, and the fact that Singapore essentially heavily subsidises the water supplied to Johor. To Singapore, this has always been a win-win. You give us water cheaply, we give you treated water back at subsidised rates. Interestingly, to Mahathir, Singapore still has to be grateful because without which we will never be alive.
Last but not least, Mahathir has at times threatened to turn off the tap. If he was trying to look like the gracious benefactor of life-giving waters to Singapore before, it's ironic because now he's threatening to cut off this precious resource, hitherto agreed upon, so as to manipulate Singapore. There's something to be said about gentlemen and agreements, and Malaysia, at least under Mahathir, has regularly chosen not to honour their agreements. We're not just talking about verbal agreements, we're talking about agreements which are signed and binding under international law. Is Malaysia a nation that makes agreements, and thereafter walks back on them when they feel like it?
Likewise LKY age old rhetoric of thinking Chinese as a superior race in this world is not relevant anymore@@renj123
Context is always important.😂
When Singapore no longer support their clean water, they can drink all their raw waters.
One thing that separates Singapore from its counterparts is that the government has largely been proactive with critical infrastructure. They know what's important and take long,careful steps to carry out their plans. Not like other governments where its all reactionary and based on what voters want
u can almost never do this with political parties that keep changing every 5 years or so... Many plans that solve problems take longer than election intervals...
@@acscw8408 Yea that's what's bad about the current system. 5 years is way too short to fix problems. In the end what parties do is just the stuff that makes voters happy which might necessarily not be a good thing.
@@acscw8408 well, Singapore is kind of communism mixed with capitalism so
You're right... and last year the government just announced they will budget 100 billion dollars to build infrastructure against rising sea levels. This will be a long term plan that could take about 100 years...but they have started building innovative sea walls as a prototype.
@@yohaneschristianp I think they're more to the right than communism, like conservative capitalism, similar to Eisenhower's model.
One thing you overlooked is Singapore separated the industrial/commercial/residential waste water systems from the beginning which though was a huge upfront cost started paying dividends as technology improved and singapore could optimise cleaning strategies which is why so many other countries fail to adopt a similar strategy due to legacy water infrastructure that mix all waste water together
true industrial and commercial gets pumped out to the sea for that extra delicious mercury in our sushi.
@@jont2576 source?
@@justintimeleave1360 mouth of kallang/geylang river leading to marina barrage....cant say for sure u gotta taste it urself
@@jont2576 All industrial waste water are treated before discharging back into the sea for god sake, there are clear regulations about this. Go read up.
@@jont2576 Have you been saving money by drinking it? Pray share.
11:41 - "When we talk about water scarcity, what we really mean is water mismanagement." Bingo.
Singapore's actions -- recycling water and increasing its price -- are the right moves.
I think you forgot to mention how Singapore infrastructure is optimised to retain maximal rainfall, such as our canals, and drainage system linkups.
Think a reason why Singapore is water-stressed despite its tropical climate bringing high rainfall is because much of our land is urbanised (~60%), so there's a high chance your canals & draininage systems are collecting the rain in urban areas, where it could be contaminated e.g. by litter, asphalt & it's too expensive to treat that water, so the water ends up being drained straight out back to the sea instead of being harvested & treated for drinking
Singapore got very smart people to run their country & I greatly admire them.
I got to visit NEWater when I was a kid in the early 2000’s... it blew my young mind then, and it continues to blow my mind now. Majulah Singapura!
Did you sample the drink when you are there? There is also beer made from NEWater
I remember the animation showing how small the membrane's pores are. If they're the size of a tennis ball, then bacterium would be the size of a bus, so the animation showed a bus (representing a bacterium) crashing into wall with tennis ball-sized holes (representing the membrane). Predictably the bus wasn't allowed entry past the wall
Dont forget it costs Singapore RM2.40 to maintain the dam and treat every thousand gallon of water. By selling at 50 sen, Singapore is providing a subsidy of RM1.90 per thousand gallons of water and the malaysian govt knows this :(
Also the Singapore govt is expected to give away the water plants and dams built on Johor which is paid for and rent paid by the SG government when the lease ends.
it's really not that one sided a deal as the 1962 agreement entails. Also the 1962 agreement the one agreement that guarantees Singapore's independence legally, if we were to amend that, it would equate to amending our independence.
water price is still very cheap even after these cost are took into account. raw untreated water china supply to hong kong cost RM14.50 per thousand gallons.
@@bearpapa1606 Raw water from rain, malaysia government get free money for nothing
@@bearpapa1606 the Malaysia gov had the option to negotiate price review every 25 years but they didn’t previously.
Grow up
Singapore is indeed a prosperous and well-managed city state. The government is always planning way ahead. Besides tackling the water supply problem, they are always setting targets to solve or mitigate future problems such as food sufficiency, energy sufficiency, climate change and global warming. While some cities around the world are sinking, Singapore is already working on the problem of rising sea level and devise a $100 billion plan to protect its coastal areas from flooding.
It's funny how all its problems it claims to tackle are all problems created by itself......30 years ago none of these problems existed......now we have one in 50 year floods thanks to endless construction and urbanisation that the ground covered by cement and concrete cannot absorb all the natural rainfall.....skyrocketing housing prices,insane cost of living, insufficient water,when Malaysia was selling us water we could subsist on Malaysian piped water alone.....now we need multiple reservoirs ,recycled toilet water and desalination plants to cope with the demand.....island warming problem.....thanks to the explosion in population and traffic in the last fifteen years.
@@jont2576 Comparing what happened 30 years ago and today is akin to compare 30 years ago prata cost and today's cost, which is stupid as you clearly didnt take into account global warming and rising sea levels both of which highly contributed to floods
@@jont2576 yes singapore caused global warming and rising sea levels and singapore alone, none of the other countries in the world
@@Kumomo92 Singapore is suffering from something far worse than global warming.....it's suffering from island warming......lmao u seriously think "'gloabal warming" and so called rising sea level would have that much of an impact and not the mass buildup of concrete and infrastructure over the past 10,15 years and the human and vehicular traffic and the fact the population literally exploded like 50% over the past 20 years from 4.0 million at the beginning of the 21st century? Despite our birth rate being below 1.5 for the last 10 years???
@@jealouseggs5619 Yes, a tiny red dot alone causing the ice in the Antarctica to melt, rising sea levels and causing many cities around the world to sink. What a powerful and great city state! Good reply to @Jon T.
The video omits several important considerations: whilst used water can be recycled or obtained from the sea, both require substantial investments and a high selling price of the produced water. Additionally significant amounts of energy for the process. This works in a very rich country like Singapore, but it is not a straightforward solution to poor countries like India. Hats off to the island state for its ingenuity!
Indeed, the water infrastructure is not cheap and it is far more complex than explained in the video. Many cities could have better manage their water. Cities with abundant supplies of groundwater tends to overuse them and end up with sinking ground and increasingly contaminated groundwater, e.g. Bangkok, Jakarta, many cities in China, Colorado, etc.
While the high cost of required is being true, such project are generally suppose to be ran by the government. Providing accessible drinkable water is a must for the citizen, in my opinion. Singapore does not have access to freshwater rivers and lakes like other countries does, that is why the government in Singapore push for such technology to developed to safeguard our basic needs.
Singapore also taxes 30% of our water bills, which goes up to 45% if your consumption exceeds a certain level (unless you're a commercial/industrial consumer)
What matters isn't how much it rains , it's how long the water sticks around after it rains.
Actually, it the catchment area per square km Vs. the population per square km
@@NewmaticKe Remarkable that consumption is so high, that there isn't enough space to capture enough the rain water to disperse it throughout the year.
Absolutely love Singapore, the most amazing place in the world, have been visiting since the early 80s, hope to go again when this horrible crap in the world abates. So much love from Osaka, Japan...Stay safe my friends....
They developed so fast in few years
warm regards from Sg! stay safe. hopefully we can travel between our countries. i know many Singaproeans cant wait to travel back to Japan.
@AccessGranted1337 are you ok?
Welcome~!
I've been to a few different countries in my life. Singapore is absolutely my most favorite place to visit though. For sure.
In the US, in the state of California, Orange County (the place where Disneyland, not world land is) has been recycling toilet water for years for domestic use. They didn't make a big deal about it and so most people still don't know. The reason the OC did it was not actually about drought. The OC still gets a lot of its drinking water from underground reservoirs. The problem is over the last century many industrial factories have existed in and around the OC. At the end of the 1990's pollutants from long gone factories started making it down to the ground water (which is deep in Socal). It got to the point that it was literally safer to recycle toilet water, then to try and clean the water coming out of the ground. It's just a side effect that the OC doesn't face water mandatory water restrictions like a lot of Socal. It still follows them in solidarity with the rest of region. But the OC has been selling it's treated water to surrounding counties for decades now. Which is ironic because the OC asked surrounding counties to join the bond issue to build the recycling plants and it would share the water. The surrounding counties thought it was too extreme and declined.
Additionally In south of Orange County, in San Diego county we have the Poseidon's Carlsbad plant, the biggest desalination plant in North America, which helps convert salt water into freshwater.
@@zakaryloreto6526 Is there still a water shortage in California?
@@ogukuo97 yes, we are basically always in a water shortage. We are taking steps for water stability but not fast and efficient enough.
There is no direct reuse of wastewater for domestic water in Orange County or California or anywhere in the US. They treat sewage and inject it into the ground, and that water is eventually pumped out again by the wells. Yes, there are plans for direct reuse where sewage is treated and pumped directly back into the domestic water system, but they have not begun doing this. I don't know if others have come on line, but as of three years ago only Singapore and Australia were operating direct reuse water treatment plants. California and the US are still working out how to ensure sewage is reliably, adequately treated for human consumption.
@@michaelb1761 The reverse osmosis technology used by Singapore was initially imported from Israel before our own developments. The advantage was that it could be used for both reused water and salt water.
The bigger issue might not be the technology itself, but the sewage system to divert waste water properly, especially if there is already an existing sewage system.
The engineers in charge of the project actually went to the more developed western countries to seek help and collaboration, but was rejected by all of them, with one in the US accusing the team of stealing their company's patent. After a few years, the project realized that, like many other things in life: if you want something done, do it yourself. From there onward, the team went out plan, design and developed the whole new-water thingy.
During that time period when the government tried to push the new-water concept to all of Singapore, the kids at school are given the presentation of the concept of new-water. In very dumb down wording by the engineers explaining to us kids: "We use your pee/waste, heat and clean it till it is water, then heat and clean again till it is drinkable. " . After that, bottled new-water are given to public school for free consumption for a period of time., then the bottled water is slowly introduced to the public in government-related events as free gift and such.
Initially there are some who are against the new-water concept but slowly forgotten as time went on. The new--water is so great that the government listed the new-water plant as one of the national sites to visit if one is accepted as a Singapore citizen.
Singapore is slowly becoming self-sustaining when it comes to water issue, there have been no water shortages in Singapore for the longest period of time, and the tap water can be consume directly unlike the neighboring countries. Sure, the cost of water is going to rise further in the future when/if Singapore do not renew the water contact with Malaysia, with time we will slowly integrate. With high standard of living, comes high cost as they say.
Singapore pay for the dam, pay for the pipes, pay for the land, pay for the workers in MALAYSIA, subsidize the treated water back to Malaysia, at the end of the contract, give everything including plants, dams all back to Malaysia. Malaysia sits there, no need pay workers, no need mantain pipes, plants etc. Get money. Yes very good neighbor and unfair ya.
Yup and of course this information was not made available to the public. Instead they keep harping on the 3sens. Typical strategy of their politician to divert attention away from domestic issues
Also when paying the Malaysian workmen working in the waterwork it must be in S$ salary instead of RM.
Mind is still blown that the rainiest countries can suffer water shortages. Goes to show that man is constantly at odds with nature no matter what.
Not having a groundwater reserve is a HUGE disadvantage. all that water and not enough space to store it.
@@gily3344 I'm guessing they didn't listen to the video very closely.
when ur government is a greedy brastard and tries to squeeze 6 million people so they can grow gdp and the tax revenue base on a land mass of barely 700sqkm.......making it the top 3 humanly dense places in the world.....singapore is 10 times more crowded than melbourne cbd on a friday night.
living in singapore is like living in a pressure cooker.....when i look at a map i see hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of barely inhabited land around us in indonesia in malaysia in thailand......but ur stuck in singapore with half the population of asia......
sometimes i wonder instead of living in a tiny 90 sq meter concrete shoe box that cost me half a million dollars.....what kind of villa and inifinity pool overlooking a cliff and the pacific ocean if i was in say indonesia.....
Most water is taken from subsurface waters, not from rain, and if you don't have the soil to gather subsurface waters, you rely on other sources.
@@JamesBideaux isnt that what reserviours are for?
I have been to Singapore many times and enjoyed my time there immensely. It is so well-planned and maintained city state. Although it is quite small but it feels spacious with plenty of vegetation and trees lined the street. It is a wonderful place to live!!😀😀😀
Thank you for giving an honest view about SG. It will be an honour to always welcome you back to SG. Stay blessed my friend. 😊
Singapore wants to reduce dependence on Malaysia for water. It is a strategic resource and cannot be in control of another nation state. And Malaysia has threatened to cut it off in the past. So it's basic risk management and mitigation. Good onya Singapore.
As a chinese person who grew up in China and US, I really enjoyed my stay in Singapore. For me, it's even better than the US and way better than China.
@Satya nadella aneh la I can't tell if you are trolling or being serious.
@Satya nadella aneh la let me simplify to you as a Singaporean, you aren't the brightest person ever
@Satya nadella aneh la Trolling it is.
@Satya nadella aneh la Troll, troll, troll. I'm with you 100%.
why?
Japan forced the surrender of Singapore in ww II by cutting off the water supply from Malaysia. I am sure Singaporean leaders had that in mind.
We are also buying green electricity (solar energy) from Australia. It's a massive project expected to be completed by 2026
Did not even know that was feasible.
@@somethinglikethat2176 me too. When I first heard it, I was sceptical. Anyway, the experts say it's do-able, so let's see
how the fk are they going to transport electricity over 6000km without a massive loss in current?
might as well build the solar farm in malaysia and pipe it in......
@@jont2576 Relying on Malaysia for both water and electricity. What could go wrong...
@@grozaphy its not like singapore doesnt rely on malaysia for practically everything ie. 100 billion of imports to feed her population.
one minor point that was not mentioned in the video is that loss of water supply due to leakage in pipe network is very low. In 2020, there were five leaks per 100km of pipes per year - down from 10 leaks per 100km of pipes in 2014 - among the lowest incidence rates in the world.
1:08 - 1:14
Why did he display Singapore as a Chinese country when we literally got 4 official languages and our native people are the orang laut which is Malay.
He's a western to them all Asians are Chinese
There is 2 other points not mentioned that is also important to how Singapore manage its water. The first is the enclosing most part of island so that most of the island serves to harvest the rainwater, leaving little water escaping into the sea. The other strategy is to reduce personal water consumption which has fallen from 165 litres (per person per day) in 2000 to 141 litres 2018.
REALLY ?!?!?!? 165 litres per day ? , per person ?
@@pjwoo276 we dont use bathtubs and soak , most of us showers for a couple of minutes.
Teaching children not to waste water in kindergartens and the proper place to throw their rubbish help to instil good habits that last throughout their lives.
More videos about Singapore pls ! Its like that quiet kid in the back of the class .
Malaysia had an opportunity to review the water agreements, specifically the 3 sens sold for the untreated water and 50 sens purchased price of treated water. Malaysia decided not to. The reason is very simple: it costs more than 50 sens to treat 1000 gallons of drinkable water. In other words, Singapore is subsidizing treated water for the State of Johore. And if you consider that the dam and reservoir in Johore is maintained at Singapore's bill, it makes little economic sense for Malaysia to adjust the pricing.
But of course the Malaysia Govt does not bring this up when they want to use Singapore as a convenient whipping boy. But no worries, we are well on our way to achieving water self sufficiency.
Can technology solve water scarcity? The simple fact is that any technological solution will (almost) certainly mean a dependence on energy - we will need to use energy for desalination and to recycle waste water. The process of Reverse Osmosis will require a lot of energy. Singapore is in a sense exchanging one problem (water scarcity) with another (energy scarcity). But there is a logic to this. Water can only come from water. But there are many ways to make energy. And we are working on it. For example, there is a project underway to generate solar power in the northern deserts of Australia and send the energy by undersea cable to Singapore. The project is expected to come online in 2027, and the Sun Cable is expected to provide 20% - 30% of Singapore's energy needs. Singapore is also starting to explore geothermal energy, but this is still only exploratory.
Some additional information:
NEWater. NEWater (recycled water) was originally developed for industrial use. The Ultra-pure NEWater is very suitable for wafer fabrication. And as mentioned in the video, for industrial air-conditioning/cooling. But when Johor threatened our water supply, we played our NEWater card. NEWater is expected to eventually provide up to 55% of our water needs. And at 2:55, the video notes that industrial use accounts for 55% (to rise to 70%) of water use. Coincidence?
The Water Treaties. There were two water treaties. One (the one still in force) was for 99 years (until 2061) and allows Singapore to buy untreated raw river water from the Johor River up to 250 million gallons per day (mgd) for 3 (Malaysian) sen per 1000 gallons. (This was in the 1960s and metric was not in fashion yet. Also British settlement/colony). In return, Singapore was to allow Johor to buy treated water up to 2% of the drawn water - So Singapore draws 250 mgd, and is obliged to sell 2% of 250 mgd or 5mgd of treated water to Johor in return at the price of 50 sen per 1000 gallons. If Johor stuck to the treaty, we would be paying Johor for the raw water, and offsetting the cost of the treated water we provide under the treaty. BUT, Johor requested for MORE than the 5 mgd of treated water. They have a standing request for Singapore to provide 16 mgd of treated water at the same rate - i.e. 50 sen per 1000 gallons. Legally, Singapore is ONLY obligated to sell Johor 5 mgd at 50 sen per 1000 gallons and anything above that amount, Singapore has the right to charge more. But for good relations, Singapore does not. Singapore provided the requested 16 mgd at 50 sen per 1000 gallon. Even tho, the cost of treating water was closer to MYR 2.40 per 1000 gallons. AND Johor charges their residents MYR3.95 per 1000 gallons. (These costs/ estimates were from some years back (2003?), when Singapore and Malaysia was negotiating the extension or renewal of the 2nd water treaty that expired in 2011.) Singapore may have benefitted from the water treaty signed 60 years ago. But so has Johor. They are selling river water. If they did not sell it to Singapore, it flows into the sea. And there are no one else close by that they can sell the river water to. So 3 sen per 1000 gallons is 3 sen more than NOT selling the water to Singapore. In return they can buy treated water at 50 sen per 1000 gallons. Singapore subsidises that at about MYR 1.90 per 1000 gallons. And sells more than Singapore is obliged to. For the 16 mgd of treated water that Johor draws from Singapore, Singapore is subsidising about MYR#30,000 PER DAY. And that's not the best part. That is was Singapore subsidies, so Johor gets the water, but not the money. Johor then sells the treated water to the residents at MYR$3.95 per 1000 gallons. Less the 50 sen they paid for it, they make a clear profit of MYR$3.45 per 1000 gallons. Or about MYR$20 million a year in clear profit.
The Expired Treaty from 1961 - 2011 (50 years) allowed Singapore to draw 100 mgd from another river (Tebrau, I think) and obliges Singapore to sell 10 mgd of treated water to Johor at 50 sen per 1000 gallons. Ten years before the expiry of this treaty, Singapore started negotiations to extend the water treaty. Of course we asked for a 100 years extension at the same rate, but would like to draw from the Johor river as the water there is cleaner (Johor has since developed polluting industries around the other river, and the water is, I understand, polluted and untreatable). With his attention drawn to this, the then-PM of Malaysia sought to leverage on Singapore's water insecurity (and dependence on Malaysia water) and extract a higher price for raw water. So the price went up from 3 sen to 30 sen, then 45 sen, then 60 sen, then MYR$3, MYR$6.25, and even MYR$8. At which point Singapore realised that it would be cheaper to desalinate sea water. There's no negotiating with Malaysia's PM (then). So that water agreement (or treaty) lapsed in 2011. And the water treatment facility with a 100 mgd capacity was handed over to Johor. By right, they should have been able to continue to run the facility and produce 100 mgd of treated water for their residents. BUT, their water management and protection of the river failed to keep the water of the Tebrau river clean enough to be treated. So no 100 mgd of treated water. Instead they buy 16 mgd from Singapore. It was the intractable negotiation process for the second (expired) water treaty that showed Singapore that our Water dependence on Malaysia was a strategic weakness, and the need for Singapore to ensure our water security.
Either solar or nuclear power can make energy scarcity a thing of the past!
Very well explained, thank you.
Why is parts of video pixelated . Is it an effect of some sort or is it my net or phone?
It's pixelated for me too, maybe they'll reupload it
same here
Same
We lived in a gated compound in Singapore when I had an ex pat contract with singtel for two years. We lived on the junction of Rifle Range Road and Dunearn Road. We used to watch the storm drains fill up when there was a rain storm and thousands of gallons of water would pass by in minutes. We once watched a Toyota lorry being tumbled past and destroyed in seconds. Amazing and scary at the same time. Singapore is lovely, and one of the nicest places you could ever want to live. (If you have money).
Singapore is one of the safest places on earth. Why do you still need to live in gated compounds?
@@bangscutter don't know, but that is what Singtel provided. The flat was wonderful, so was the compound., there was a lovely swimming pool and gardens. Everything was so well looked after. We had a serviced apartment where my wife had to do nothing and a private lift. That's not something I've ever had before or since .
@@jimfrodsham7938 . Ah...😄. Thats a condominum. We don't have "gated" estate as far as i can remember. Well ...... maybe the Istana.
@@dragonflyinsg well it had security guards and a wall around most of it 😊
@@bangscutter 90% of Singapore's population live in public housing which are not gated. Yeap...high-rise apartments where anyone can practically walk right up to your door with no barriers or security.
Most of the remaining 10% live in private housing which are usually gated for that sense of....poshness....and to justify that astronomical price tag.
Always amazed and impressed with the ingenuity and technology implemented by such a small yet clever country and government!
If it is Singapore. I believe they can do it
Yet majority American still think Singapore is china..
Many Malaysians including Ex PM Mahathir forgotten about this supplement agreement to 2061.
about Singapore signs a new water agreement with Johor
24th Nov 1990
Singapore signed a new water agreement with the Malaysian state of Johor on 24 November 1990. The agreement was a supplement to the 1962 Johor River water agreement; both agreements would expire in 2061. The 1990 agreement allowed Singapore to build a dam across Sungei Linggiu (a tributary of the Johor River) to facilitate the extraction of water from the Johor River.[1] This was an important arrangement as Singapore was unable to draw the 250 million gallons (approximately 1.14 billion L) per day of water it was entitled to under the 1962 water agreement unless dams were built over certain parts of the river.[2] In exchange for the Linggiu Dam, Singapore would compensate Johor RM$320 million for the land needed to build the dam and its surrounding facilities. This was in addition to a premium of RM18,000 per ha (per 10,000 sq m) and an annual rent of RM30 for every 1,000 sq ft (per 92.9 sq m) of the land.[3] Singapore would also bear the cost of constructing and maintaining the dam, which would be transferred to Johor at a later date.[4]
In addition to the construction of the Linggiu Dam, the 1990 water agreement also allowed Singapore to draw beyond the daily limit of 250 million gallons of untreated water from Johor provided in the 1962 agreement.[5] The additional water would be processed in Johor, and its price would be determined by a formula based on the price of water sold in Singapore and the price of water sold in Johor.[6] Together with the water agreement signed, there was also another agreement signed with Malaysian oil company Petronas that secured the supply of 150 million cu ft (about 4.2 million cu m) of natural gas from Terengganu to Singapore.[7]
Talks leading up to the 1990 water agreement had begun as far back as August 1982 when Singapore and Malaysia agreed to study ways, including the joint development of new water facilities, to enable both Singapore and Johor to draw more water from the Johor River to meet their future needs.[8] However, progress was slow as negotiations were hampered by several obstacles, including the premium for the gas and additional water to be paid by Singapore. It required the prime ministers of both Singapore and Malaysia to step in on numerous occasions between August 1986 and January 1988 before a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) - covering the future sales of water and gas to Singapore and two proposed transport links between Singapore and Johor - was concluded on 28 June 1988.[9] Following the signing of the1990 water agreement, Singapore proceeded to build the Linggiu Dam. The dam, together with other saddle embankments and ancillary works to create the Linggiu Reservoir, was completed in April 1993 at a cost of S$310 million.[10] The facility enabled Singapore to draw up to 250 million gallons of water per day from the Johor River.[11]
Quite sure he "forget" on purpose so as to bring up the 3 sens issue at every opportunity to divert attention away from domestic issues.
@@KeoNz yalor, the RM$320 million compensation was pocketed by Johore Govt instead of federal administration that initiated the revision of contract rates in 1987, that’s why he was still mad with Muhyiddin till to date.
It’s important to note that when the water deal was signed, in 1962, Singapore was a state of the Malaysian Federation. Malaysia’s parliament expelled Singapore from the union in 1965 over racial conflict (Singapore is majority-minority for Malaysia, and the conservative block in Malaysia feared their voting power). Existing agreements, such as the water deal, survived the expulsion. This history gives Singapore little incentive to revisit the deal with Malaysia today: they didn’t voluntarily secede, they were kicked out of a country for being too racially diverse and for voting too far leftward.
Too racially diverse ??? Lmao
I thought Singapore only joined Malaysia in September 1963?
Singapore is not "majority minority". Its super majority Chinese.
its not too racially diverse..look it up
@@millevenon5853 It was a part of malaysia, which was&is majority malay, therefore Singapore was majority-minority for Malaysia when SG was a part of Msia as its majority race was Chinese.
Agree with Chee Liang Shi about the cost of importing the raw water from Malaysia. Singapore bore all the costs while Malaysia benefits from the clean water resupplied to them. Their government are fleecing their own people by reselling the clean water to the at such a high price when they did not have to do anything at all and they still complain about selling the water to Singapore at such a low price. The ordinary Malaysians need to know that it is their own government who is to blame for the cost of their water.
Sadly no information about the concentrated brine, that gets produced in desalination plants.
Do they process it or just dump it back into the ocean?
Usually it’s dumped into deep water.
I think new plants will mix it with regular seawater before returning it to the ocean.
If you see the amount of virgin sand used to "reclaim" land in Singapore, I'm sure Singapore is really worried about the extra salt too. There is a PR "green" version and the real science version of Singapore and the two are no where close.
According to PUB (Singapore) the brine is dumped back into the sea. The waste product is not salt actually. It's concentrated seawater, which contains a lot of stuff other than salt. It's not likely to affect marine life in the southern parts of Singapore.
At the northern parts, we are actually setting up more fish farms.
As a tiny island surrounded by water, it is literally "water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink".
Pretty much true for every landmass beside sea water.
Yes . . Yes . . Yes
and Singapore always does the smart thing.
Do yourself a blessing and visit that beautiful place.
🙂
I can't believe some of the massively overpopulated places on this planet. It rains all the time but we need more.
"Will Singapore's technology mean the end of water scarcity?" With the cost and energy requirement? Hardly. It's not an approach that would work in poorer countries. Bad water management usual goes hand in hand with political corruption, kleptocracy and being broke af. The country's that most need these solutions won't be able to pay for such facilities. If one could avoid contamination of waste water by separating the graywater/sewage, and by banning certain pollutants from use, then I assume you could cut a few steps out of the treatment process. Ultimately the "critical" water need is domestic water for cooking, sanitation and drinking (also subsistence farming). That probably accounts for a small percentage, but should be GUARANTEED as a human right.
The Sg water self sufficiency idea and policy was conceived by our founding PM when we were kick up of Malaysia in Aug 1965. We have no natural resources of our own, the Malaysian politicians were hoping we will die & scramble back to them for mercies. But our then PM Lee Kuan Yew promised us during 09 Aug 1965 announcement of independence that “Singapore will survive.” And survived we did as we trust and worked hand in glove with our government. We were penniless at independence and through sheer hard work, bold vision and our dreams were realized. It took us decades to build up our finances, monetary reserves to fund the expensive New Water Treatment facilities and Sea water desalination plants. So poor countries need not despair. U already have a small country that shows the way to achieve your dreams for peace & prosperity. All u need is effective govt which will not tolerate corruption and is committed to better the livelihood of its people and the country.
@@leewn2319 Singapore will survive....like Singapore did not survive for the past 150 years.
Singapore GDP per cap was not even considered poor...slightly above average.....not as rich as western coutries but for Asia was pretty damn rich.
I am just wondering all that cake of excess salt... where will it go... toxic dump i guess
Johor has plenty of water, and excellent mountain water too. Many johoreans are working in Singapore, and a lot of Singaporeans visitors to Johor.
Both benefits from working with each other, complementing one another. It’s the stupid federation government that keeps putting barriers and meddling in on all the affairs.
They want more money
Everytime they want more money they try their hardest to get it from Singapore, like raising tolls at the checkpoint.
Johor always tries but fail to reject the increase as it's Johoreans working in SG that pays the toll but the federal government that gets the benefits of increased fees
Thank you! Valuable knowledge 😊
It’s not true. There are several occasions where Johore state were going through drought seasons and water rationing were imposed. The water drawn from Linggiu dam was at dangerous Low level and nothing was able to be extracted from the dam where the the Johore waterwork which is at upstream and SG PUB waterwork at downstream. But SG continue to supply 3 x times the 12% in the contracts amount to 33% filtered and clean water back to Johore people. This shows that SG is already sufficient with its 17 water reservoirs with 5 NEWater plants and 4 desalination plants even during the severe drought seasons in Johore.
Yes we are already self-sufficient long before 2061. We are just intentionally not bragging about it because....Malaysia. 😁
Absolutely amazed by the ways Singapore treat and store water. A lot as to be learn for country that has bigger place to store water.
“NewWater” cracks me up! Such savvy marketing for reclaimed water, which someday will likely dominate water from utilities.
Cost a lot of energy. Plus the excess salt need to go somewhere. They cannot depend on this fully. Not feasible
selling 1000 gallon at 3 RM cents and buying back at 50 RM cents is just part of the story. The treatment cost per 1000 gallon is 2.40 RM and there is also a need to mention that johor sells water back to its own citizens at 3.95 RM. do the maths..
And Singapore sells only 2% of water back to Malaysia. So Singapore gets about 98% of water for basically free. Do the maths
@@Adscam Singapore regularly supplies over the 2% requirement to Johor at Johor's' request although not obligated to do so.
@@KeoNz So I buy you a kopi now and again. Happy.
@@Adscam
You should do the maths. Singapore is selling treated water to JB at 90% discount, that mounts up to $7 millions discount every month...
@@Adscam water drops from the sky free of charge. Of course it should be free. Singapore is, however, paying entirely for the entire infrastructural processes needed to bring the water to Singapore. So who is getting money for doing nothing, and who is getting treated water for a steal?
If Johor can do it themselves for much cheaper, they would have done it a long, long time ago. Pretty obvious why they are happy to continue this arrangement. 🤣
Looking at the video (and a quick superficial look at the comment section), Singapore's water solution and the subsequent business model reminds me quite a bit of how the Dutch do water management. (I'm Dutch)
Hi, it is a bit like the Singapore lack of natural gas for energy. I think 90-95% of our electrical supply is generated from the natural gas supply from Natura, Riau Islands. Indonesia. You have Shell oil/gas fields but we don’t have any. We are very dependent on our close neighbours for basic resources but most Singaporeans are not even aware of this.
Singapore took a lot of advice from Albert Winsemius. A Dutch economic advisor to Singapore. He has a street named after him. However the location is known as a good place for cheap beer :)
The Marina Barrage is inspired and advised by Dutch engineering
Please make an episode about Artificial islands being built by China and Maldives govt.
G'day,
Anthropogenic Global Warming and Sea-Level Rise means that ALL efforts at "Island Building" are totally wasted exercises in Pathological Denialism...
Exactly as stupid as every Halfwit who owns Land and Property or relies on Infrastructure sited within 20 metres of Sea Level.
LOTS of Wishfool Thunkers are about to discover that Reality Awareness Therapy washes their silliness away for good.
Such is life,
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
It's a very inspiring country. Is there anything that they do wrong? Why don't the rest of the world take notice of what they're doing?
For one, migrant workers here are paid terribly compared to locals. Moreover, their living conditions are not great...
@@grozaphy Haha! Well it is the same situation across the rest of the world ain't it. Just because it isn't reported doesn't mean it isn't happening. LOL!
I'll let critics (or haters) of Singapore fill you in on what we're doing wrong.
I'll touch on why Singapore's success is not replicable in other countries... maybe. This is just my opinion.
1) Integrity of the Public Service/Anti-corruption stance. I believe this is the foundation of Singapore's success. From the 1960s when Singapore started governing itself, Lee Kuan Yew set the standard to root out corruption in the civil service, in public service, and even in private "undertakings" - Yes, there was corruption in undertakers and funeral services even. Google Transparency International. Singapore is ranked 4th in 2021.
2) Geography/geology/demography. Singapore is a small city state. There is no hinterland. There is no rural population. It is 720 sq km it total. You can drive across the island in 30 minutes (approx 40 km across). 45 minutes if you are a careful driver. This means that in politics there are no politicians trying to curry favour with the rural voters and pit them against the Urban voters. The island is relatively flat, so there are no "East-siders" vs the "West-enders" separated by a central mountain range. Yes, at one time we tried to pretend that there were "heartlanders" and "cosmopolitans" (not a drink). 80% (0r more) of the population live in public housing. And anywhere else in the world "public housing" is a term of derision, pity, and possibly horror. Not in Singapore. It is part of who we are. We are generally a homogeneous population and that makes it easier for policies to benefit most of us.
3) Constant tweaking. China had the one-child policy, we had the "Stop at Two" population policy. Then in 1984, we started to reverse course. And the "Stop at Two" was rescinded around 1990, and the "baby bonus" scheme started a few years before that, I believe. The point is, times changes and policies needs to change with it. Policies need to meet the needs.
These are the three main points I can think of.
Are there countries that have tried Singapore's way of doing thing. Yes. China. Look how well they have done. BUT... in the housing sector they have tried to do as Singapore did but with corruption and lack of integrity, the Chinese housing market has been exploitative. And has or will be crashing. The govt should have been tweaking policies earlier, but they didn't and it got really bad.
I hear Rwanda is sort of like Singapore, but I do not know enough about it. But I understand it is doing well.
Here is an example of how Singapore does Health care well: ua-cam.com/video/WtuXrrEZsAg/v-deo.html
The video (Dr Aaron) explains that Singapore is open to change, and is constantly tweaking policies when it does not work, which brings me to the 4th reason:
4) Pragmatic, Practical, non-Ideological. A lot of politicians are ideologues. Their opinion and solutions are informed by their ideology. Singapore has no ideological baggage. We do what works. We choose what works. Ideology be damned.
Some already did. China early modernization by Mao is based on Singapore success.
Singapore regarded water supply is national security and put it on book at all cost. So you see how immense important it is for Singaporean.
Humanity has gravely mismanaged its water resources. As sea levels rise due to global warming (freshwater aquifers will be salinised) and states and countries fight for a greater share of dwindling water supply for agriculture and human consumption, these technologies to reuse/recycle used water will be crucial in time to come. Singapore is showing how it can be done.
No water, no politik. Just like…no water, no life. So, a relevant topic for the channel.
You guys are great. Thank you for this.
It can definately help in solving the world water problem !
Stillsuits all around!
11:02 Not true, Israel is already at well over 50% desalinated or recovered water, and over 70% if one counts agriculture - unless you really only count reclaimed water. Israel isn't aiming for 50%+ reclaimed water, so it will never get there. Now Israel is finishing a pipeline that will use desalinated water to supplement its few rivers and lakes when there is an overabundance of desalinated water but not enough natural flow. But that is not to take away from what Singapore is doing. More power to them! The two countries are great friends anyway.
The headwaters of the New Zealand river, the Taramakau receives 1.8 metres, annually. My Great Grandfather was sent to survey a road there. We always wondered why the road was abandoned.
One further development not mentioned in the video is building the Long Island scheduled to be completed by possibly latest by 2050, this is going to add in a huge man made reservoir just south of current East Coast Park help increase water catchment.
We need this in California instead of a ridiculous "super train" between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
But the Supertrain sounds more fun and fancy. 😔 (especially if you are middle and upper class... I guess.)
THANK YOU!!!!!👍
dude, you are supposed to be the richest economy in the world, the fact you don't have both of those things is just embarrassing.
This system and housing could make a governor a legend.
California is the king of wasting taxpayer money.
If every country with coastlines set up desalination plants with effective supply chain then there won't be consumable water scarcity ever. Even deserts will be used for cultivation of crops
singapore is hot, humid country with lots of air-conditioner
if there is a centralize way to collect all the water from all the individual air-con units in each building, it will be a significant volume of water too
Great video. Very informative.
Singapore has a tropical climate which is warm and humid, with abundant total annual rainfall of approximately 2,200 mm. Generally, the eastern parts of Singapore receive less rainfall compared to other parts of the island. The winds are generally light but with a diurnal variation due to land and sea breezes. That is 88 inches per square meter and with a 728.6 km² land area of which half will be the base for our calculation. At 364 square kilometers which is 100 hectares per square kilometer. That's 2.2 cubic meters of water per square meter x 10,000 per square meters per hectare = 22,000 cubic meters per hectare x 100 hectares per square kilometer = 2,200,000 cubic meters per square kilometer x 364 kilometers = 800,800,000 cubic meters per year. At a population of 6 million that is 133.467 cubic meters per Singaporean per year. Using a multi-waste stream super critical wet oxidation process being used by the U.S Navy and by certain industries, it can become a self-sustaining process as long as there is a sufficient organic content in the waste stream or sewage and will turn everything into fresh water.
Singapore can try bringing water from the South Pole (Antarctica). Just have a fleet of sufficient huge tankers transporting ice / water from Antarctica to Singapore which can replace water imported from Johore. A thought worth considering and evaluating.
Our whole country Singapore is like a water sponge, every drop of water from the sky is save
😅
Malaysia gets free freshwater from rainfall which they DO NOT use and would end up in the sea. Singapore buys that water a cheap price of RM0.03 per 1000 gallons.
Singapore spends RM2.40 to purify said 1000 gallons and sells it to Johor for RM0.50. That means that Singapore is actually subsidising Johor water.
It is the federal government of Malaysia that does not like the deal, the state government of Johor absolutely loves it because they get super cheap water. This deal is widely misunderstood, it is Malaysia that gains monetary benefit from Singapore from discounted water, not the other way around.
So why does the federal government not like the deal even though malaysians also benefit from the deal? well, the federal government doesn't like Singapore, and they are willing to forgo cheap drinking water for Johor malaysians to put strategic pressure on Singapore. After all, Johor can live without cheap water, but Singapore cannot live without buying untreated water from Johor. All the talk about price is a a diversion. To add onto this, despite pressure from the federal government to review the price, both the state government of Johor and Singapore opposed this review as both parties see the current deal as mutually beneficial, since the state government is more concerned with its residents that international politics.
its politicking by mahathir, the old fox is shit at making policies but great at winning elections through racial politics and nationalism
Singapore seems to have exhausted places to have water catchment area. What they can do is to consider building/digging really, really deep huge caverns to store water like aquifers The same as they have done to store hydrocarbons/oil under Jurong Island.
Does anyone know the name of the song around 07.57 minutes of the vdo?
Singapore is growing by reclaiming surrounding ocean...
We will still need to import water from Malaysia even after that agreement lapses. But it will be more expensive for sure so we have to build whatever water resources now to be maybe even 75% self sufficiency
No worries, as long the relationship between Singapore and Johore is good, not even Malaysian government can interfere. Malaysia is a federal country and each of her states have full control over land and water.
The federal government may despise the agreement but the state has nothing to lose, the water will end up in the sea anyway.
Maybe the price of water need to be revised to please the state of johor. It’s the johoreans that matters and johore and Singapore is relatively friendly with each other.
No we do not. If we do, it is merely an option to perhaps help reduce the overall water price, or a backup source.
In fact, we are already close to being fully self-sufficient today. No need to wait until 2061. The plants we continue to build are to keep in tandem with the rising demand over the next decades.
Grass always greener on the other side
Singapore adopted the same doctrine as Swiss that building the country like a fortress. A fortress storing wealth.
The truth is current water pricing still consider cheap if compare to australia and nz
One info this splendid video missed. Its that Singapore's drinking water is 100% potable.
There is another process which is being explored. Obtaining the water from the humidity in the air via Aquamakers.
That will never create enough water for consumption. The amount of electricity used will be astronomical, not to mention the huge size needed for the condenser. So called Aquamakers are just dehumidifers.
@@erictayet you don't use it for the general population and only to generate potable water. It is still a useful technology when applied to certain circumstances.
Need something like Newater in Australia.
Unlike the US where we wait for the problem to manifest itself and then just throw money at the problem until it goes away.😂
Because our politics has been progressively getting worse since the 70s. We were a smart nation once, still are, but its as if we refuse to use those smarts anymore. This country was the first to create a national park system to preserve large swaths of pristine wilderness, the national oil reserve stored in expended salt mines one of the first of its kind, etc etc. The saying goes never talk about politics or religion in polite company; over a hundred years later, this nation’s politics is broken and people have lost their religion. If we want to figure out our problems, we need to engage in gruelling dialogue. But people have become soft mentally in this country, and most aren’t educated well enough to want to think critically for long periods of time, a cause of the education fund being cut virtually ever single year since the 80s.
Unless innovation such as graphite makes these processes outdated.
American sigma male grindset
Liking the rain special effects. But I think it'd be cooler if you did it while actually in the rain.
I watch just because that rain effect on the intro 🤣
7:43 "on what has been baptized"... I see what you did there VisualPolitik writer, bravo! :D
Desalination plants and water generators combined would give us all seemingly endless clean water, salt supplies and clean energy. Not sure why we aren't already using them were needed.
It's because the waste brine is such a headache. Now that it's projected to have economic value people are looking into it again.
@@tnk4me4 yeah, you need a place on land to put the brine. Or it will harm the ocean. America can just put the brine in our salt flats. It's literally already full of salt.
Your report is good but when come to our historical link with Msia, i suggest you do your research with more indepth and balance it with truth, not one sided propaganda of their media distortions.
Singapoor is really rich
Mahathir wanted to only increase the price of raw water, yet when told that the subsidized price that treated water that Johor would also go up, he chose to forget to renegotiate the water deal. The Johor has been drawing much more than treated water stated in the agreement. Water of Johor river does not flow into reservoir or any catchment, down the stream they got more and more polluted and eventually flow into the sea. Johor now enjoy the best quality of water in the whole Malaysia.
Singapore got Malaysia to thank for its superb water management. Malaysia threatened Singapore that if she doesn't listen to big brother, the big brother will turn off the tap, meaning the water from Johor River. That, started a desperate search for a solution to make sure that such a threat will be futile. Singapore succeeded. Since then, such vile threat to use water as a weapon has stopped. By 2061, Malaysia can go ahead and throw its water to the sea and earn nothing and Singapore can stop supplying treated water. Now, who will get the last laugh?
by 2061 🤣 so what happen if malaysia cut their water tomorrow? 🤣
@@harukrentz435 4 years too late. Singapore is already self sufficient since 2018. No need tomorrow, can cut today and it wouldn't do anything 😉
@@harukrentz435 They don't dare. The late LKY already said that S'pore would 'move in' the moment Malaysia cut its water supply b4 2061.
@@harukrentz435 International court, if it takes too long then sadly it will be war. Doubt Malaysia wants war, Singapore don't want it either.
@@harukrentz435 They wouldn't dare when the late PM of Singapore said - 'We'll go in'
When asked what will Singapore do if Malaysia cut off the water supply, Lee Kuan Yew said: We'll go in and get it!
Mostly great video but does your editor not watch these back or something? So much artifacting.
We are already a world leader in water management, we have exported such technologies for decades.
NeWater is known locally as 'Getting your own back' !!
A contract is a contract.
Water makes the world go round.
There was not any information include for the energy source for all of the water treatment. This could easily be a major problem.
Interesting upload. My take is that the combination of desalination and fusion reactors will lead to an infinite supply of fresh water in the next few decades (yeah I know….fusion is always 20 years away). But we’ll get there eventually which would mean greening of deserts and other major alterations to the biosphere. Deserts can become carbon sinks in the next century, reversing global warming. They will also become much more attractive places to live, opening up whole new cities in places that are barely habitable today.
Most water is used in agriculture. Singapore imports food and therefore this important factor is left out in the calculation. Nevertheless, it is no question that their improvements to water management seem exemplary.
Most of Singapore's water comes from Osmosis units which use massive quantities of electricity and have to be mixed with other water as it lacks basic chemicals for life . The population was originally capped at 3 m matching its food and water resources , then was doubled , making it an unsustainable city . The water available from Malaysia has been reduced significantly in recent years by climate change .
Weathering with you vs Colombia
I would ‘enclose’ both ends of Pulau Ubin to Singapore to form a very huge reservoir for Singapore future water needs.
This massive reservoir will probably bigger than all the present reservoirs combined.
Possible? Just take a look at the map of Singapore. Off course it’s possible.
We need to think ‘Big’ & for our future need & survival 😳🤔🌈🌱
….and when Malaysia turn off the ‘tap’ for Singapore.
Maybe enclose until tekong too making pasir ris a fresh water beach haha. It'll be cleaner too.
Don’t worry about Malaysia turning off the tap. 20 years ago could be a problem if they did, but not now, not anymore. Now we have the marina barrage and about 17 reservoirs, we can get by ok. Truth is we have more than enough.
We have a water contract with Malaysia so we’ll continue to buy water from them. And since the contract is legally binding, both sides can’t cancel it. Johore will not cancel it because they know it costs cheaper for them to get treated water from us than they treat their own water.
It costs us 3 ringgits to treat 1000 gallons of water but we sell this 1000 gallons back to Johore at only 50 sen, so we are in fact selling them the treated water at 90% discount . Imagine if they cancelled the water contract, that means they will lose the benefit of the 90% discount. So instead of paying just 50sen for 1000 gallons of water, they will have to spend 3 ringgits treating their own water. They are not stupid, they know they stand to gain from the water contract, otherwise Mahathir would have really turned off the tap long ago. And if we cancelled the contract, lagi worse still, they’ll blame us till kingdom come...
Your idea about closing up both ends of Pulau Ubin is in fact very good...hope PUB will look into it...
Actually, you are not the only one who brought up this idea. However, that stretch of water happens to be an international shipping route as it leads to Pasir Gudang Port. The sea north of Pulau Ubin is narrower and less suitable for bigger ships.
Excellent video, I was wondering where Singapore got its water. Can you please tell me what they do with the salt produced from desalination? If it is thrown back into the sea it damages marine life.
Something happened when you were rendering the video, the clips keep breaking.. or maybe it downloaded weird.. idk.
Wouldn't it be easier to pay Malaysia a bit more...
It’s easier to pay Malaysia more but when Malaysia wants more and more every year? Or when Malaysia threatens to cut off supply every time there’s a quarrel? Why do you think Singapore invest so much to protect our sovereignty from foreign threats?