Drought, Pollution and Johor's Growing Water Needs

The political economy of water demand and supply, within and between countries, is increasingly becoming an absorbing subject matter amongst academics, policymakers, and the general public. Dr. Lee Poh Onn has undertaken an objective study of the current water negotiations between Singapore and Malaysia by providing a background paper that seeks to provide a better understanding of the issue.

Chapter of the book ‘Global Water Security’, World Water Council (Editor), 2018, Springer, Singapore, pages 85-115, 2018

For decades, the main goal of Singapore in terms of water resources has been to become water-secure. As a result, water availability, accessibility, and affordability have traditionally been decided at the highest political level. Singapore’s overall development is linked to a great extent to ‘blue development’, the amount of water available in sufficient quantity and quality and at affordable prices for the growing number of uses and users in every sector. The city–state aims to be water-secure, self-sufficient, and resilient by 2060, when water consumption will be twice today’s level. An important global city, Singapore will continue improving its economic and social conditions to match both local expectations and global prospects. Trends indicate that it will become more urban, more industrialised, and more competitive, which will result in higher water demand. Known for its key policies and innovations, Singapore will have to continue planning within a long-term framework to become water-secure and achieve its overall development goals.

What India and China can take away from Singapore's water story

Already Singapore is considered the second-most competitive country, after Switzerland, and ahead of the United States.

Singapore has developed from a water-scarce developing nation to a world leader in water management in the space of a few decades. With a territory of just 720 square kilometres, Singapore is water-scarce not because of lack of rainfall, which is on average 2,300 millimetres per year, but because of the limited land area where water can be stored and the absence of aquifers.

The Journal of The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia, 2016

Human overuse of water resources and diffuse contamination of freshwater are stressing the water resources in the terrestrial water cycle. As a consequence, the ecological functions of water bodies, soils and groundwater in the water cycle are hampered and being further exacerbated by threats from impending climate change. Though Malaysia is blessed with fairly abundant rainfall it still has its fair share of water woes, such as occasional droughts, looding and pollution of its rivers and water bodies. Only recently, the country was faced with water related hazards of fairly disastrous proportions. Recurring potable water shortages that occurred in 2014 and 2015 in several states had led to water rationing. Malaysia has since the early 1990s set its vision to become a fully developed country by the year 2020 (Vision 2020). The transformation of the water sector must also evolve in tandem to meet sustainable development goals beitting a developed nation status by 2020. The National W...

2016

Asian Politics & Policy, 2018

Environmental degradation has manifested as the principal source of nontraditional security threat in global politics. In Southeast Asia, the issue of water sharing between Malaysia and Singapore has created severe tensions since their separation in 1965. Over the years, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, by applying the principle of noninterference in internal affairs, have resolved a number of outstanding issues. However, the water-sharing dispute between Malaysia and Singapore has been out of the purview of the principle of noninterference, since the majority of ASEAN members perceived it as a bilateral affair that could not be discussed at the ASEAN platform. Against this backdrop, this article analyzes the rationale and implications of the tension over water resource sharing between Malaysia and Singapore. It offers suggestions for reaching a resolution, in order to build a congenial bilateral and regional atmosphere.

Hydrological Processes, 2014

2005