Malaysia, Singapore grapple with prolonged dry spell

Reuters: Singapore and Malaysia are grappling with some of the driest weather they have ever seen, forcing the tiny city-state to ramp up supplies of recycled water while its neighbor rations reserves amid disruptions to farming and fisheries.

Singapore, which experiences tropical downpours on most days, suffered its longest dry spell on record between January 13 and February 8 and has had little rain since.

Shares in Hyflux Ltd, which operates desalination and water recycling operations in Singapore, have risen 3.5 pct over the past month.

In peninsular Malaysia, 15 areas have not had rainfall in more than 20 days, with some of them dry for more than a month, according to the Malaysian Meteorological Department. The dry weather is expected to run for another two weeks.

The Indonesian province of Riau has also been hit, with parts of the region wreathed in smog, usually caused by farmers setting fires to illegally clear land. Poor visibility has disrupted flights to and from the airport in Pekanbaru...

Discontent rises with Singapore haze

Kirsten Han in the Diplomat: Although a bustling, densely populated city-state, Singapore has nonetheless managed to maintain a reputation for having relatively clean air. Once a year, though, the island is engulfed in smog and haze, a result of forest fires caused by slash-and-burn tactics employed by plantations in Indonesia. For more than a decade now Singaporeans have endured the consequences of unethical plantations choosing the easy way out in clearing their land. Still, usually people just cough and scratch their noses, grumble a little and continue on their way.

Not this year, though, as the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) climbs higher than ever before. At one point it hit 401, classified by the National Environment Agency (NEA) as “very hazardous”. It’s all anyone can talk about. The Twitter hashtag “#SGHaze” is constantly trending in Singapore, and social media feeds are clogged with screencaps, comments and postings from those obsessively monitoring the PSI figures. The severity of this year’s haze problem has brought to the surface a plethora of worries and criticism of the government.

With the smog hitting record levels, people have been advised not to remain outdoors for long periods of time. Several companies and employers have asked their employees to work from home, or stop working completely. McDonald’s temporarily ceased its delivery service, citing health concerns for its workers. Despite this, the government has yet to issue an official “stop work” order, and many construction workers – most of them low-paid migrant workers from Bangladesh, India or China – are still toiling away in hazardous conditions.

Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), an NGO focused on migrant workers’ rights, wrote in a statement published on that website that it “is gravely concerned that current bad haze conditions will affect the health of workers in many trades, e.g. construction, marine, sanitation, landscaping.”...

Singapore haze at night, shot by mqnr, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Water scarcity in Singapore pushes 'toilet to tap' concept

Deutsche Welle: Singapore is one of Asia’s most powerful economies, but it lacks a reliable water supply. Wastewater-reuse plants could change that by soon recycling enough sewage to meet 50 percent of the nation’s water needs. Singapore is a city of superlatives. The banking Mecca, Asia’s answer to Geneva and Zurich, has the world’s highest concentration of millionaires. The affluent city-state has a booming economy with investments pouring in.

...But the prosperity and economic boom are unable to mask one of Singapore’s most pressing problems: it simply does not have enough water to meet its needs. The city-state has to import several millions of liters of fresh water from neighboring Malaysia via pipelines. In fact, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has officially classified the island state as “water poor.” Alternatives are urgently needed.

The water Singapore imports from Malaysia makes up around 30 percent of its total supply. With 2.4 meters of precipitation a year – the global average is only 1 meter – rain is another crucial source of blue gold. Another 30 percent come from the island’s 17 reservoirs. But digging further reservoirs is not feasible because space is at a premium in Singapore – the country is the size of the German city of Hamburg...

That led the government to launch a project called “NEWater” back in 2003. It involves recycling wastewater to highly purified water, providing a more cost-efficient and eco-friendly solution. The concept of recycling wastewater into what’s called greywater certainly isn’t new, with long-running initiatives already well underway in Israel, Spain, Scandinavian countries and the US. But with NEWater, Singapore has quickly gained an international reputation for efficient recycling of wastewater. The initiative already supplies around one third of the country’s water demand, and that number is expected to grow to more than half by the year 2060....

Singapore skyline. The floating balls are part of a New Year's celebration. Shot by bryangeek, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Indonesia names Sinar Mas, APRIL, among eight firms behind Singapore haze

Jessica Cheam in Eco-Business: Indonesia has blamed eight companies, including Singapore-based Sinar Mas and Asia Pacific Resources International (APRIL) for the fires raging across its land of Sumatra that has blanketed parts of Malaysia and parts of Singapore in its most severe haze in history.

Senior presidential aide Kuntoro Mangkusubroto was reported by news wires on Friday saying: “The majority of hotspots in Riau (province) are inside APRIL and Sinar Mas concessions,” The environment minister said not all eight companies were Singapore based, but declined to name the rest of them. He added that investigations are still ongoing and he was not able to elaborate further where these companies are from, although Indonesia is expected to name the companies in the next few days.

Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya met his counterpart from Singapore, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan in Jakarta on Friday, who handed a letter from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Dr Balakrishnan had earlier in the week called on Indonesia to name and shame the companies so that commercial pressure can be applied on them to prevent and address the haze.

Some of the world’s major largest palm oil companies such as Singapore-based Wilmar International and Malaysia-based Sime Darby have denied involvement in the burning, although Wilmar has been reported to say it cannot control local practices of slash-and-burn for agricultural and other purposes...

Singapore haze on June 17, 2013, shot by Brian Jeffery Beggerly, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr,  under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Indonesian fires worsen, Singapore smog sets record

Kanupriya Kapoor in Reuters: Military planes water-bombed Indonesian forest fires that worsened on Friday and blanketed neighboring Singapore in record levels of hazardous smog for a third straight day in one of Southeast Asia's worst air-pollution crises.

As Singaporeans donned face masks and pulled children from playgrounds and Malaysia closed schools in the south, the deliberately-lit fires grew bigger in some areas. Whipped up by winds, the blazes added to fears over health problems and diplomatic tension in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, three of Southeast Asia's biggest economies.

...Indonesia's Environment Minister, Balthasar Kambuaya, said the government had identified five companies behind the fires, but refused to name them, according to The Jakarta Post newspaper.

Singapore's government has warned the haze could last weeks. Illegal burning of forests and other land on Indonesia's Sumatra island typically take place in the June to September dry season to clear space for palm oil plantations. But this year's fires are unusually widespread and the hazy smog is the worst in Singapore's history.

"Since the fires are happening mostly on plantation lands, we believe there are plantation companies involved. The president has already put together a team to investigate who owns the plantations," said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency....

Fires on Sumatra in 2006, via NASA

Singapore pollution soars as haze from Indonesia hits air quality

Guardian (UK) via AP: Singaporeans reduced military training exercises, kept cough-stricken children indoors and wore protective masks to work after a smoky haze triggered by forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia caused air pollution to hit its worst level in nearly 16 years.

Singapore's main measurement of air quality has hovered at the unhealthy classification as smoke from blazes on Sumatra island drifted across the sea and cast a grey pall over the city-state's skyscrapers.

The readings on the pollutant standards index were mostly between 104 and 123 on Tuesday, within the unhealthy range of between 101 and 200. A peak reading of 155 on Monday night was the highest since late 1997, when officials reported a 226 reading.

Smoke haze is an annual problem for Singapore and its northern neighbour, Malaysia, often beginning midyear, when farmers in Indonesia seek to clear land cheaply by starting fires. It sometimes causes diplomatic strains as Malaysia and Singapore urge Indonesia to do more to prevent illegal burning.

Malaysia has been only lightly affected so far this year, with pollution readings in Kuala Lumpur, its largest city, not breaching the unhealthy mark. Indonesia has said part of the current problem is caused by peat blazes that firefighters are struggling to extinguish during hot, dry weather...

Haze in Singapore, October 2006, shot by Sengkang, public domain

Singapore issues national climate change strategy

National Geographic: Singapore, the newest addition to the global C40 network, has recently published its national climate change strategy, “Climate Change & Singapore: Challenges. Opportunities. Partnerships.” The comprehensive document reflects the key elements of Singapore’s efforts on this issue – preparing for the uncertainties and impact of climate change, seizing opportunities for green growth, and supporting the transition to a lower emission economy.

Singapore has been a longstanding leader on environmental issues. It created its Ministry of the Environment in 1972, making it one of the first countries to form a Ministry dedicated to creating and sustaining a good environment for its people. Today, climate governance is strong at the highest levels: long-term planning, policies and action are guided and coordinated by the National Climate Change Secretariat under the Prime Minister’s Office and the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change.

As a low-lying island that is densely populated, Singapore is focused on efforts to adapt to the impacts of climate change, such as flooding and severe weather events, through integrated land use planning, water management and investment in research and infrastructure. Reducing emissions is another core aspect of its climate strategy, building upon significant efforts to date, including sourcing 80 percent of its fuel for electricity generation from natural gas and capping vehicle growth through regulation and taxes. Singapore is also studying how to stabilise its emissions over the long term....

No room for waste in urban water management

Jenny Marusiak in Eco-Business: Cities are literally flushing resources down the drain as part of an age-old water management system they can no longer afford, said experts at last week’s Singapore International Water Week.

Water infrastructure has remained basically unchanged since ancient times: Cities bring fresh water in, use it and then get it out of sight as quickly as possible, said this year’s Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize laureate Professor Mark van Loosdrecht at the biannual Singapore International Water Week water lecture.

Although most cities have become better about treating the water before sending it away, they are still failing to recoup valuable resources, added the Dutch water technology expert. While the used water is itself a recyclable resource, it also contains heat, nutrients, energy, minerals such as phosphorus, and organic material that can support algae. Even the cellulose from tissue paper in the water can be reused.

Professor van Loosdrecht said that 40 per cent of the solids in Amsterdam’s wastewater is cellulose, which industry can reuse for glucose. And some organic solids can be used for bioplastics, he noted. Such innovations are progressing rapidly, and used water treatment systems will soon be able to power themselves or even generate extra electricity, he added.

Yet, despite the valuable resources embedded in used water, many cities are struggling with insufficient funding to maintain aging and inadequate systems. “The technology is not the problem; it is widely available. Management is the problem,” said Professor van Loosdrecht. He explained that the people in most towns with water problems manage to have mobile phones and televisions , even though these amenities are more expensive than the per capita cost of an adequate water system....

Jurong Lake in Singapore (a reservoir for the city), shot by Groyn88, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Singapore raises sea defences against tide of climate change

David Fogarty in Reuters: A 15-km (10 mile) stretch of crisp white beach is one of the key battlegrounds in Singapore's campaign to defend its hard-won territory against rising sea levels linked to climate change.

Stone breakwaters are being enlarged on the low-lying island state's man-made east coast and their heights raised. Barges carrying imported sand top up the beach, which is regularly breached by high tides.

Singapore, the world's second most densely populated country after Monaco, covers 715 square km (276 sq miles). It has already reclaimed large areas to expand its economy and population -- boosting its land area by more than 20 percent since 1960.

But the new land is now the frontline in a long-term battle against the sea. Every square metre is precious in Singapore....

A night view of Bishan in Singapore, shot by Eustaquio Santimano, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Singapore highlights climate issues

Evelyn Choo in ChannelNewsAsia: More agencies are communicating environment-related messages to the public via social media and engaging in public consultations this year. In some cases, public consultation has proven to be productive.

For instance, consumers often do not pay attention to labels on electrical appliances, which tell consumers how much energy they would use. But after a recent public consultation exercise by the National Climate Change Secretariat, a suggestion -- to pitch in terms of dollars and cents so that people will see the real savings and buy the idea -- was made.

This was among about a thousand ideas floated by participants at the exercise. It began in September to hear from different segments of society -- including households, industry players, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) -- on climate change.

Some of these ideas look set to shape the National Climate Change Strategy, to be released in the middle of next year.

...Besides the change in climate, Singapore faces another looming threat to its environment - flash floods - a result of heavier-than-average rainfall....

A sunrise in Singapore, shot by Mohd Kamal, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

New approach needed for Singapore's big floods

Lediati Tan & Benson Ang in AsiaOne News: It may be too early to blame the recent episodes of flash floods on climate change, but rainfall patterns in the past decade show thunderstorms of increasing intensity, say experts. Said Dr Liong Shie-Yui, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore's civil engineering department: "Our analysis shows that the trend of Singapore's annual rainfall and rainfall intensity have been on the increase in the past decade."

Based on information gathered between 1961 and 1990, and 1999 and 2008, both the average annual rainfall and average maximum daily rainfall (intensity) show significant increases. Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Dr Vivian Balakrishnan also made this point after Sunday's downpour.

All planning norms must be reviewed, he said, to take into account "the very high probability that our weather patterns have changed". He added: "If we are going to expect sudden and intense precipitation, then it is very likely that our drainage systems must be redesigned to cope with such intense pressures."…

A Landsat image of Singapore, from NASA

Singapore braces for climate change

Evelyn Choo in Channel News Asia: In 2010, climate change made its presence clearly known in Singapore. Flash floods in particular spared no mercy on the island, leaving Orchard Road as one of the worst-hit areas. But a massive operation is underway to protect the shopping belt, which is set to go full steam in January.

Flash floods hit Orchard Road not once but twice, resulting in million-dollar losses at the shopping belt. The public and private sectors then embarked on a slew of preventive measures. National water agency PUB is spending S$26 million to raise certain stretches of Orchard Road by 30 centimetres.

Work has since got off to a slow but tactical start due to the recent festive period. Steven Goh, executive director of Orchard Road Business Association, said: "You don't see much progress because PUB has agreed to delay the road-raising works till mid-January. "We cross our fingers, as major works will only be carried out in mid-January.....the relocation of the bus stop, jacking up of the ERP gantries, and raising of the lamp posts on the road, these are major works."

…A Risk Map Study of Singapore's coastlines will also commence soon. The project will map out areas being threatened by rising sea levels, which could lead to a high risk of land loss and flooding. The project, which could take three years to complete, will find out how climate change impacts Singapore's biodiversity and public health….

Christmas decorations along Orchard Road in Singapore, shot by Benjamint444, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 only as published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License

Singapore calls for climate fund

Today Online (Singapore): If a balanced outcome is to be struck on climate change, developed countries must provide support to developing countries, Senior Minister S Jayakumar urged as he chaired ministerial talks in Mexico ahead of the United Nations climate change meeting next month. In particular, Professor Jayakumar called for a new Climate Fund to be established in Cancun, which would "serve as a confidence building measure and signal the developed countries' willingness to provide long-term support to developing countries to undertake adaptation and mitigation actions".

Financing, technology cooperation and capacity building will be core issues in the upcoming negotiations, Singapore's National Climate Change Secretariat said on Friday. Expectations are low around the world that a legally-binding agreement can be reached. In Copenhagen last year, only several countries, including Singapore, had made various mitigation pledges. "It's important that after a year of negotiations, further progress is made," Prof Jayakumar said.

He said a decision on mitigation as well as on measurement, reporting and verification would "send a strong signal that countries remain committed" to the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change process. He stressed that there should not be a short-term focus, though. "A balanced package in itself won't make any sense if we don't make it very clear that such a package will form the basis for a future outcome that is legally-binding," he said….

Flash floods disrupt Singapore

Terra Daily via Agence France-Presse: Singaporeans were salvaging cars, soaked belongings and damaged goods on Sunday after a third flash flood in two months submerged low-lying areas of the city-state. Shops and houses along posh Orchard Road were again hit by floods on Saturday after heavy rain overwhelmed the drainage system of the wealthy metropolis, which is often lauded for its excellent urban management.

The flooding took place just before parliament was to debate the issue on Monday following public clamour for explanations for earlier floods, which are normally associated with neighbouring capitals like Manila and Jakarta.

Residents in affected houses hauled out sodden furniture and opened windows and doors on Sunday after muddy water from overflowing canals receded. "We never had floods like that," said Peter Wong, 49, a long-time resident in a row of houses in eastern Singapore invaded by calf-high floodwaters on Saturday….

Singapore's Marina Barrage helped prevent a bigger disaster

Ng Jing Yng in Today (Singapore): The Marina Barrage reservoir did help in preventing a bigger disaster during the recent flash floods, said Dr Amy Khor, who was present at yesterday's event in Bukit Gombak.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, said that six out of the seven gates at the barrage were left open to manage the amount of rainfall during the heavy thunderstorms last month.

Dr Khor, also Member of Parliament for Hong Kah GRC, added that since the 1970s, the number of flood-prone areas had been reduced from 3,200 hectares to 66 hectares. The Government has spent at least $2 billion to improve the drainage system and will continue to review the current system, she said….

The Marina Bridge containing the press gates that form the barrier of the Marina Barrage in Singapore, shot by TimLee90, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Singapore sand demand seen damaging Cambodia environment

Neil Chatterjee in Reuters: Singapore's thirst for sand to increase land reclamation and construction is driving an ecologically damaging sand-dredging industry in Cambodia, according to a report by a non-governmental organization. London-based Global Witness said on Tuesday that Cambodia's sand-dredging industry threatened endangered species, fish stocks and local livelihoods, despite the government's May 2009 ban on sand-dredging.

"This situation highlights the continued failure of Cambodia's international donors to use their leverage to hold the small elite surrounding the Prime Minister to account," said George Boden, campaigner at Global Witness. "Cambodia's natural resource wealth should be lifting its population out of poverty."

Koy Koung, the spokesman and undersecretary of state at Cambodia's Foreign Affairs Ministry, said he was unable to comment as the government had not seen the Global Witness report.

The report said Singapore was the world's largest importer of sand in 2008 and has used sand imports to increase its landmass by 22 percent since the 1960s. It said this development has wreaked havoc on the region's coastlines, with Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia having all announced bans on sand dredging for export due to environmental concerns….

Beach sand shot by Bobanny, who has released it into the public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Singapore needs to build capabilities in understanding climate change

Hetty Musfirah in Channel NewsAsia: Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim on Monday said that Singapore needs to build up capabilities in understanding climate change. This will help the country and the region be better prepared for the impact of climate change and its effect on weather systems.

Dr Yaacob was speaking to experts who are meeting in Singapore for the first time to discuss the impact of typhoons in Asia. The Asia Pacific Region is one of the most vulnerable areas to natural disasters, and Singapore has been part of a 14-member UN-ESCAP/World Meteorological Organisation Typhoon Committee since 1997.

Last year, more than 300 people died in the path of Typhoon Ketsana when it struck Southeast Asia. From 1950 to 2005, more than half of the worldwide deaths caused by natural disasters occurred in this region, and many of the deaths were typhoon-related. Wind storms and floods associated with typhoons accounted for 57 per cent or some US$33 billion of the economic losses in this region in the same period.

Singapore is spared such devastation due to its location, but Dr Yaacob said that there is still a need to be prepared. Typhoon Vemai, which struck in 2001 for example, brought on heavy rainfall, flash floods and even caused disruption to flights in Singapore.

Dr Yaacob said: "Typhoons are powerful ... and their influence can extend to hundreds and thousands of kilometres beyond, bringing in dry weather in one part and wet weather in another. "They can significantly affect the regional rainfall patterns. Our climate scientists in MSD (Meteorological Services Division) will therefore collaborate with experts in the region to better understand the relationships between climate change and typhoons."….

A 1994 CIA map of Singapore

Singapore coming close to water self-sufficiency

Asia Sentinel: When Singapore’s newest reservoir was opened this weekend, it was billed as the garden city’s latest leisure hub, designed to attract boaters and picnickers keen to escape the hectic pace of urban life….It is the latest advance in the city-state’s drive to wean itself away from imported water from Malaysia and its concomitant political entanglements. In the process, Singapore has emerged as an unlikely world leader in water conservation, reclamation and desalination.

Singapore still sources around half of its water from Malaysia and frequent disputes over the water supply have dogged relations between the two neighbors virtually since the two became independent countries. But after billions of dollars of investment into transforming its water supply, Singapore is getting ever closer to the day when it will become totally self-sufficient, finally kicking one of the most poisonous bilateral issues into the long grass.

With no proper rivers of its own and a land area too small to collect enough rain water, Singapore has been dependent on water brought across the Strait of Johor ever since it gained its independence from the British. But despite the two long-term supply deals signed in 1961 and 1962, once Singapore was unceremoniously booted out of the nascent Federation of Malaysia in 1965, the water issue began to drive a wedge between the two.

It wasn't long before Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's first post-independence prime minister, was threatening to turn off the taps if Singapore pursued a foreign policy that was "prejudicial" to Malaysia's interests. Singapore's first post-independence leader and current Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, also said that he would have been prepared to send the troops in, if Malaysia had carried out an "act of madness" like cutting off the water.

…"I think it’s unlikely that there will be more problems between Malaysia and Singapore over water," added Kog Yue Choong, a Singaporean engineer and academic who has written on water security in Southeast Asia. "Many of the problems happened when Mahathir was in control but now the game has changed because the additional water sources Singapore has developed will reduce its vulnerability."

Couldn't find a picture of the Marina Barrage, but this is the Upper Seletar Reservoir in Singapore. Shot by Sengkang , Wikimedia Commons