Why Conserve Water?

Water Conservation in Singapore

The conservation of water through the reduction of demand has always been an important aspect of water management (Postel, 1985). In Singapore, the government strives to lower Singapore’s per capita domestic water consumption to 140 litres by implementing various initiatives such as the water conservation awareness program. Singaporeans have made an improvement; the per capita domestic water consumption has decreased from the initial 165 litres per day in 2003 to the current 153 litres (Public Utilities Board, 2012).

Apart from the reduction of water demand, the government has come up with an alternative ways to increase Singapore’s water supply. This includes the increment of water catchment areas from half to two-thirds of Singapore’s land area, as well as through the emergence of reverse osmosis technology that treats used water and seawater (Public Utilities Board, 2012).

The initiatives by the government showcased the urgency and the importance of water conservation. 


Singapore Water Coastline (Crypt, 2012)

Why the need to conserve water?
In the tragedy-of-the-commons situation, Hardin (1968) indicated that repeated unrestricted consumption of natural resources leads to a decrement of the resource and will eventually exhaust the resource. 

Hardin (1968) assumes that each individual focuses on their self-interest, and sees no harm in consuming the resource, as they perceive their impact to be small since the resource is plentiful. Some individual may be driven to consume large portion of the resource. This situation worsens with population growth. Resources will be depleted at a faster rate because of this.

To avoid the problem, Hardin (1968) advocates the government in placing regulations on the use of the resources. Ophuls (1977) believes that there are other solutions to the problem. One such suggestion was education, usage of moral religious values and encouragement of prosocial behavior in small community.

Tragedy-of-the-commons situation may happen in Singapore, if sufficient care is not taken. Singapore’s population has been growing since 1990, from 3.04 million to the current 5.18 million (Department of Statistics Singapore, 2011). From the statistics shown, there is a need to ensure sufficient water supply in Singapore. Thus, the government has implemented regulations on the use of water that includes mainly imposing water tariff, water conservation tax, waterborne fee and sanitary appliance fee (Public Utilities Board, 2012). The higher the usage of the resource, the higher the payment cost. The implemented regulations are part of curtailment behavior, in which reduces the usage of water (Clayton & Myers, 2009).

Another solution that is widely used is education. Public Utilities Board (PUB) has been educating the public through various initiatives. Initiatives that have been rolled out include educating the public on water conservation behavior via commercials and through TV programme, having exhibitions on water conservation, and carrying out the Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme (WELS). PUB too has implemented educational programme on water conservation to educational institutions, such as primary and secondary schools.

However, implementing the above initiatives may not necessarily produce the desired outcomes which are water conservation behaviors. Thus, there is a need to evaluate the outcome of the implemented initiatives. 



Singaporeans at Bedok Reservoir (Public Utilities Board, 2012)