Measures to Ensure Singapore's Water Supply is Free from Terrorist Attacks and Contamination
Ministry of Sustainability and the EnvironmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Ms Joan Pereira’s inquiry on measures to protect Singapore’s water supply from terrorist attacks and contamination between reservoirs and building tanks. Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli B M M highlighted that water facilities are designated protected installations, using buried pipelines and secured building tanks to prevent tampering. He detailed a rigorous monitoring regime involving 400,000 annual tests and daily sampling, with oversight provided by the National Environment Agency. To ensure compliance, the Public Utilities Board conducts spot checks on building tanks, imposing fines of up to $10,000 or imprisonment for security lapses. Finally, the Minister emphasized the importance of public vigilance and reporting suspicious activities via the SGSecure application to maintain water security.
Transcript
25 Ms Joan Pereira asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources what measures are in place to ensure that the water supply from our reservoirs to the water tanks in each building is free from terrorist attacks and contamination.
Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: The Public Utilities Board (PUB) takes the safety and security of our water supply very seriously.
PUB has stringent security measures to ensure that the water supply from our water treatment plants to the water tanks in each building is safe. All of PUB's water supply installations, such as the water treatment plants and service reservoirs, are designated as protected installations which are physically secured, with tight access control and surveillance.
Treated water from the water treatment plants and service reservoirs is conveyed through a network of buried and pressurised pipelines to customers' premises which prevents attempts to contaminate it. At the customers' end, PUB works with Town Councils, Management Corporation Strata Titles and building owners to implement measures that ensure the security of their water service installations, including water tanks. These include tight measures to secure water tank covers, as well as restricting water tank access to authorised personnel. PUB conducts regular spot checks on all buildings with water tanks to ensure compliance. Our checks showed that the vast majority of our tanks are properly secured. When we detect non-compliance, we take swift enforcement actions against the building management. To signal the seriousness, penalties amount to a fine not exceeding $10,000, or imprisonment of not more than 12 months, or both. From 2014 to 2017, there were 22 such cases and errant parties have since rectified the lapses.
To complement our security measures, PUB has a comprehensive water sampling and monitoring programme from source to tap. This will ensure that the water supply to customers is safe. Daily water samples are collected from reservoirs, waterworks, distribution systems and customers' taps. The samples are tested at laboratories to ensure no abnormality. Online sensors have been installed at our reservoirs, at each stage of the treatment process and also at strategic locations in the network to keep a close watch on water quality. Over 400,000 tests are conducted annually on physical, organic, inorganic, radiological, bacteriological and microbiological parameters. As an additional layer of checks, PUB submits their water safety and sampling plans to the National Environment Agency's (NEA's) Drinking Water Unit and is required, under the Environmental Public Health (Quality of Piped Drinking Water) Regulations to report any deviations in water quality to NEA's Director-General of Public Health.
PUB takes the issue of drinking water quality and safety very seriously and will continue to do their part to keep safe and secure our water supply. I call upon the public to help by being vigilant and to call the Police or provide feedback via the SGSecure app, if they suspect or observe anything suspicious with regard to our water.