SINGAPORE'S WATER AGREEMENTS WITH MALAYSIA

SINGAPORE'S WATER AGREEMENTS WITH MALAYSIA: 13.

Mrs Mildred Tan asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources in light of the expiry of the first of our Water Agreements with Malaysia next year, whether the Minister can give an update on Singapore's attempt to be self-sufficient in water and whether this will mean an increase in water tariffs for Singaporeans in the future.

Mr Speaker: You have about three minutes, Dr Yaacob.

The Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim): Sir, Singapore has two Water Agreements with Malaysia, one expiring in 2011, and the other one in 2061.

Sir, over the years, Singapore has built up its local water supply with new reservoir schemes, NEWater and desalinated water. With these new sources, we have diversified our water supply and built up a robust system. We will not need to renew the first Water Agreement when it expires in 2011.

We have augmented our local catchments with the Marina, Punggol and Serangoon Reservoirs. Singapore's water catchment area will increase from half to two-thirds of our land area when these three reservoirs are completed by 2011.

NEWater supply capacity is also being ramped up concurrently. With the completion of the NEWater plant at Changi in 2010, NEWater will be able to meet 30%

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of Singapore's water needs. In addition, the desalination plant completed in 2005 can further meet about 10% of Singapore's water needs.

As the production of NEWater and desalinated water are independent of rainfall, they can be used to supplement local water stocks in an extended dry spell, like the one experienced in February this year, which was the driest February on record. Over the next few years, we will be building a second desalination plant, so as to further enhance the drought resilience of our water supply, and ensure reliability for Singapore's water users.

Water pricing is an important element of our water conservation efforts. Water tariffs need to be reviewed from time to time, to reflect the higher costs of producing water from these newer sources and other general cost increases. Sir, the Government will study any proposal to revise tariffs carefully, particularly its impact on low income households.

3.00 pm

Mr Speaker: Order. End of Question time.

[ Pursuant to Standing Order No. 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos. 14, 17, 19-20, 25, 28, 30, 33, 34 and 37 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix*. Question Nos. 15-16, 18, 21-24, 26-27, 29, 31-32, 35-36 and 38 have been postponed to the sitting of Parliament on 27th April 2010 .]

*Cols. 141-158.