FLOODS IN SINGAPORE : A GENERAL APPRAISAL

Abstract

Researchers from various disciplines have conducted specialised studies on floods in Singapore and the information on the subject has consequently been scattered among these disciplines. This study is a preliminary attempt to synthesise these information into a general appraisal study so as to provide a comprehensive overview of the flood problem in Singapore. Singapore has had a very long history of flooding. On a global scale, the flood problem in Singapore can be considered to be minor. However, given the highly urbanised context of Singapore, flooding of a very small scale can still constitute a major problem and with the rising standards of living, even the smallest floods are perceived as problematic in the eyes of the public. Natural factors such as the high rainfall, unfavourable physiography and tidal influences have often been implicated as the major causes of the flood problem. However, it must be recognised that the physical transformation of the island associated with urban development has put considerable pressures on the land and drainage system, making it more susceptible to the flood hazard. For a large part of its modern history, the rapid rate of urbanisation in Singapore had not been complemented with an associated increase in drainage capacity and the flood problem gradually became very serious. It is only in the recent decades that the problem has received considerable attention from the government, which set up the Drainage Department to undertake drainage development and flood alleviation. Physical adjustments have been extensively carried out. Natural water courses have been filled in or replaced with lined channels and new canals have been built to accommodate the large discharge from the island, Low lying land has been raised to prevent inundation. To complement these, various administrative measures such as legislative measures and flood relief operations have also been carried out. However, the inefficient construction and management of some of the physical projects have imposed considerable limitations to the roll of structural adjustments. The future scenario of the flood problem in Singapore would thus depend very much on the development of more efficient measures of flood alleviation. However, given the scarcity of land for drainage development and the need to allocate public funds to higher priority development 9rojects, this can be a very difficult task indeed. It is essential that future urban development projects be complemented with a drainage network which is geared towards the long term needs of that area since the failure of many of the existing flood control schemes has been attributed to the lack of foresight in the planning of the alleviation projects.