Potential water resources in Singapore

Abstract

This paper presents guidelines on managing freshwater shortages on small islands and a case study on Singapore's water supply is discussed. By analysing Singapore's geographic conditions, it is found that abundant freshwater or brackish water is available in the mouth of the Johor River, which might function as one of the water resources to be developed since membrane technology drastically reduces the treatment cost of brackish water. A hydrodynamic model is applied for prediction of saline intrusion length and temporal distribution of salinity at the border of the Johor River after the proposed construction works are completed. Modelling results show that the oscillation zone of saline water intrusion in the Johor River mouth is in the range of 6 to 16.2 km, the equilibrium salinity is about 2.1 kg/m3 and fresh/brackish water is available for 8 h daily at the border after the river mouth is partially closed.