Debated in Parliament on 9 Nov 2022.
Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment how many technological and engineering advances are utilised to tackle future problems of flooding and rising sea levels.
Climate change will bring about sea level rise and more frequent and intense rainstorms, which could exacerbate flood risks. The Government is making timely investments to shore up our coastal and flood resilience, leveraging science, technology and engineering as key enablers.
To better assess the combined risks of coastal and inland flooding, national water agency PUB has been working with NUS and Hydroinformatics Institute to develop the Coastal-Inland Flood Model. This is an advanced computational hydrodynamics model that can simulate flood scenarios to support the planning and design of coastal protection and drainage infrastructure.
Innovative engineering methods are employed to overcome land constraints in Singapore. Examples include underground detention tanks, such as the Stamford Detention Tank, which free up space aboveground for other land uses, as well as multifunctional solutions like the Marina Barrage and Alkaff Lake in the new Bidadari estate, which provide recreational spaces while also enhancing flood resilience.
In the area of coastal protection, the Government is actively trialing different solutions and assessing their suitability to be implemented in Singapore. For instance, learning from the Netherlands, HDB is piloting polder development at Pulau Tekong. PUB is exploring the potential of using customised modular blocks that could reduce land and materials needed for coastal protection structures and will also be studying the feasibility of implementing coastal barriers to protect Singapore’s southwestern coastline from storm surges.
To address flooding, PUB utilises radar technology which helps to predict locations where heavy rainfall might occur. Together with an extensive network of over 1,000 water level sensors and 400 CCTVs installed at flood-prone areas, this enables PUB to issue advance flood risk warnings to keep the public out of harm’s way.
The Government is committed to strengthening Singapore’s climate resilience. PUB will plan for coastal protection and flood management in an integrated manner, leveraging technological advances and building local long-term capabilities. Nonetheless, the effects of climate change cannot be tackled by technological developments and infrastructural investments alone. We also need to partner the community, such as by working with building owners to install flood protection measures to protect their properties and by equipping the public through weather alerts to make adjustments to their daily routines.
PAPERCUTS