Monitoring of Water Quality within Our Territorial Waters and Enforcement Actions and Penalties against Illegal Discharge of Waste and Hazardous Materials

Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong asked the Minister for Transport (a) how is water quality within our territorial waters monitored; (b) how is illegal discharge of waste and hazardous materials detected from transiting and parked ships in our anchorages; (c) how is a slow discharge of such waste detected; and (d) what are the enforcement actions and penalties.

The National Environmental Agency (NEA) regularly monitors the water quality of Singapore’s coastal areas along the Straits of Johor and Straits of Singapore. Coastal water samples are collected monthly and analysed for physical, chemical and microbiological parameters. In addition, a network of eight-buoy-based monitoring stations continuously monitor key water quality parameters in coastal waters. These measurements provide an assessment of the overall coastal water quality and enable unusual variations or anomalies to be detected.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) deploys patrol craft in our port waters to ensure that vessels navigating and anchored in our waters comply with regulations on discharging of waste and hazardous materials. Random inspections are conducted on board ships to ensure that shipboard pollution prevention equipment, such as the oily water separator and sewage treatment plant, are in working condition. The Singapore Police Coast Guard, harbour pilots and the shipping and harbour craft community also assist to report waste and hazardous material in the water or illegal discharge of such material from ships.

The Prevention of Pollution at Sea Act (PPSA) regulates the discharges of oil, noxious liquid substances in bulk, harmful substances in packaged form, sewage, garbage and air pollution from ships. The PPSA implements Singapore’s obligations as a party to the International Maritime Organization’s Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. The PPSA sets out the penalties for illegal discharge of waste and hazardous materials to be applied on the master, owner and agent of the ship, as follows:

(a) The penalty for any disposal or discharge of refuse, garbage, waste matter, trade effluent, plastics or marine pollutant in packaged form from any ship into Singapore waters is a fine not exceeding $20,000, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or both.

(b) The penalty for any discharge of oil or oily mixture from a Singapore ship into any part of the sea or from any ship into Singapore waters is a fine of not less than $1,000 and not more than $1 million, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both.

Over the last 10 years, 49 ships were penalised for illegal discharge of waste and hazardous material into Singapore waters.