While it was painted as though Singapore was fleecing Malaysia, the video overlooked 2 key points (which Malaysia politicians also like to overlook) when talking about this issue. (1) Singapore bore the full cost of making it possible to import water from Malaysia (there was no help from Malaysia, even though it was a far richer country in the past) including dams, pumps, pipes and other compensation to stakeholders. (2) The cost for Singapore to treat the water was RM2.40 (which means Singapore made a loss of RM1.90 after the mandated price of RM0.50). Malaysia then resells the water back to their citizens at RM3.95 (effectively making a profit of RM3.45 with little to no effort)... Singapore had also supplied more water when requested (effectively taking more loss while the Malaysia government made more profit)...

One thing that separates Singapore from its counterparts is that the government has largely been proactive with critical infrastructure. They know what's important and take long,careful steps to carry out their plans. Not like other governments where its all reactionary and based on what voters want

11:41 - "When we talk about water scarcity, what we really mean is water mismanagement." Bingo. Singapore's actions -- recycling water and increasing its price -- are the right moves.

I think you forgot to mention how Singapore infrastructure is optimised to retain maximal rainfall, such as our canals, and drainage system linkups.

One thing you overlooked is Singapore separated the industrial/commercial/residential waste water systems from the beginning which though was a huge upfront cost started paying dividends as technology improved and singapore could optimise cleaning strategies which is why so many other countries fail to adopt a similar strategy due to legacy water infrastructure that mix all waste water together

Singapore got very smart people to run their country & I greatly admire them.

What matters isn't how much it rains , it's how long the water sticks around after it rains.

I got to visit NEWater when I was a kid in the early 2000’s... it blew my young mind then, and it continues to blow my mind now. Majulah Singapura!

The engineers in charge of the project actually went to the more developed western countries to seek help and collaboration, but was rejected by all of them, with one in the US accusing the team of stealing their company's patent. After a few years, the project realized that, like many other things in life: if you want something done, do it yourself. From there onward, the team went out plan, design and developed the whole new-water thingy. During that time period when the government tried to push the new-water concept to all of Singapore, the kids at school are given the presentation of the concept of new-water. In very dumb down wording by the engineers explaining to us kids: "We use your pee/waste, heat and clean it till it is water, then heat and clean again till it is drinkable. " . After that, bottled new-water are given to public school for free consumption for a period of time., then the bottled water is slowly introduced to the public in government-related events as free gift and such. Initially there are some who are against the new-water concept but slowly forgotten as time went on. The new--water is so great that the government listed the new-water plant as one of the national sites to visit if one is accepted as a Singapore citizen. Singapore is slowly becoming self-sustaining when it comes to water issue, there have been no water shortages in Singapore for the longest period of time, and the tap water can be consume directly unlike the neighboring countries. Sure, the cost of water is going to rise further in the future when/if Singapore do not renew the water contact with Malaysia, with time we will slowly integrate. With high standard of living, comes high cost as they say.

Dont forget it costs Singapore RM2.40 to maintain the dam and treat every thousand gallon of water. By selling at 50 sen, Singapore is providing a subsidy of RM1.90 per thousand gallons of water and the malaysian govt knows this :(

Singapore is indeed a prosperous and well-managed city state. The government is always planning way ahead. Besides tackling the water supply problem, they are always setting targets to solve or mitigate future problems such as food sufficiency, energy sufficiency, climate change and global warming. While some cities around the world are sinking, Singapore is already working on the problem of rising sea level and devise a $100 billion plan to protect its coastal areas from flooding.

The video omits several important considerations: whilst used water can be recycled or obtained from the sea, both require substantial investments and a high selling price of the produced water. Additionally significant amounts of energy for the process. This works in a very rich country like Singapore, but it is not a straightforward solution to poor countries like India. Hats off to the island state for its ingenuity!

Mind is still blown that the rainiest countries can suffer water shortages. Goes to show that man is constantly at odds with nature no matter what.

Absolutely love Singapore, the most amazing place in the world, have been visiting since the early 80s, hope to go again when this horrible crap in the world abates. So much love from Osaka, Japan...Stay safe my friends....

In the US, in the state of California, Orange County (the place where Disneyland, not world land is) has been recycling toilet water for years for domestic use. They didn't make a big deal about it and so most people still don't know. The reason the OC did it was not actually about drought. The OC still gets a lot of its drinking water from underground reservoirs. The problem is over the last century many industrial factories have existed in and around the OC. At the end of the 1990's pollutants from long gone factories started making it down to the ground water (which is deep in Socal). It got to the point that it was literally safer to recycle toilet water, then to try and clean the water coming out of the ground. It's just a side effect that the OC doesn't face water mandatory water restrictions like a lot of Socal. It still follows them in solidarity with the rest of region. But the OC has been selling it's treated water to surrounding counties for decades now. Which is ironic because the OC asked surrounding counties to join the bond issue to build the recycling plants and it would share the water. The surrounding counties thought it was too extreme and declined.

Can technology solve water scarcity? The simple fact is that any technological solution will (almost) certainly mean a dependence on energy - we will need to use energy for desalination and to recycle waste water. The process of Reverse Osmosis will require a lot of energy. Singapore is in a sense exchanging one problem (water scarcity) with another (energy scarcity). But there is a logic to this. Water can only come from water. But there are many ways to make energy. And we are working on it. For example, there is a project underway to generate solar power in the northern deserts of Australia and send the energy by undersea cable to Singapore. The project is expected to come online in 2027, and the Sun Cable is expected to provide 20% - 30% of Singapore's energy needs. Singapore is also starting to explore geothermal energy, but this is still only exploratory. Some additional information: NEWater. NEWater (recycled water) was originally developed for industrial use. The Ultra-pure NEWater is very suitable for wafer fabrication. And as mentioned in the video, for industrial air-conditioning/cooling. But when Johor threatened our water supply, we played our NEWater card. NEWater is expected to eventually provide up to 55% of our water needs. And at 2:55, the video notes that industrial use accounts for 55% (to rise to 70%) of water use. Coincidence? The Water Treaties. There were two water treaties. One (the one still in force) was for 99 years (until 2061) and allows Singapore to buy untreated raw river water from the Johor River up to 250 million gallons per day (mgd) for 3 (Malaysian) sen per 1000 gallons. (This was in the 1960s and metric was not in fashion yet. Also British settlement/colony). In return, Singapore was to allow Johor to buy treated water up to 2% of the drawn water - So Singapore draws 250 mgd, and is obliged to sell 2% of 250 mgd or 5mgd of treated water to Johor in return at the price of 50 sen per 1000 gallons. If Johor stuck to the treaty, we would be paying Johor for the raw water, and offsetting the cost of the treated water we provide under the treaty. BUT, Johor requested for MORE than the 5 mgd of treated water. They have a standing request for Singapore to provide 16 mgd of treated water at the same rate - i.e. 50 sen per 1000 gallons. Legally, Singapore is ONLY obligated to sell Johor 5 mgd at 50 sen per 1000 gallons and anything above that amount, Singapore has the right to charge more. But for good relations, Singapore does not. Singapore provided the requested 16 mgd at 50 sen per 1000 gallon. Even tho, the cost of treating water was closer to MYR 2.40 per 1000 gallons. AND Johor charges their residents MYR3.95 per 1000 gallons. (These costs/ estimates were from some years back (2003?), when Singapore and Malaysia was negotiating the extension or renewal of the 2nd water treaty that expired in 2011.) Singapore may have benefitted from the water treaty signed 60 years ago. But so has Johor. They are selling river water. If they did not sell it to Singapore, it flows into the sea. And there are no one else close by that they can sell the river water to. So 3 sen per 1000 gallons is 3 sen more than NOT selling the water to Singapore. In return they can buy treated water at 50 sen per 1000 gallons. Singapore subsidises that at about MYR 1.90 per 1000 gallons. And sells more than Singapore is obliged to. For the 16 mgd of treated water that Johor draws from Singapore, Singapore is subsidising about MYR#30,000 PER DAY. And that's not the best part. That is was Singapore subsidies, so Johor gets the water, but not the money. Johor then sells the treated water to the residents at MYR$3.95 per 1000 gallons. Less the 50 sen they paid for it, they make a clear profit of MYR$3.45 per 1000 gallons. Or about MYR$20 million a year in clear profit. The Expired Treaty from 1961 - 2011 (50 years) allowed Singapore to draw 100 mgd from another river (Tebrau, I think) and obliges Singapore to sell 10 mgd of treated water to Johor at 50 sen per 1000 gallons. Ten years before the expiry of this treaty, Singapore started negotiations to extend the water treaty. Of course we asked for a 100 years extension at the same rate, but would like to draw from the Johor river as the water there is cleaner (Johor has since developed polluting industries around the other river, and the water is, I understand, polluted and untreatable). With his attention drawn to this, the then-PM of Malaysia sought to leverage on Singapore's water insecurity (and dependence on Malaysia water) and extract a higher price for raw water. So the price went up from 3 sen to 30 sen, then 45 sen, then 60 sen, then MYR$3, MYR$6.25, and even MYR$8. At which point Singapore realised that it would be cheaper to desalinate sea water. There's no negotiating with Malaysia's PM (then). So that water agreement (or treaty) lapsed in 2011. And the water treatment facility with a 100 mgd capacity was handed over to Johor. By right, they should have been able to continue to run the facility and produce 100 mgd of treated water for their residents. BUT, their water management and protection of the river failed to keep the water of the Tebrau river clean enough to be treated. So no 100 mgd of treated water. Instead they buy 16 mgd from Singapore. It was the intractable negotiation process for the second (expired) water treaty that showed Singapore that our Water dependence on Malaysia was a strategic weakness, and the need for Singapore to ensure our water security.

We are also buying green electricity (solar energy) from Australia. It's a massive project expected to be completed by 2026

Japan forced the surrender of Singapore in ww II by cutting off the water supply from Malaysia. I am sure Singaporean leaders had that in mind.

I have been to Singapore many times and enjoyed my time there immensely. It is so well-planned and maintained city state. Although it is quite small but it feels spacious with plenty of vegetation and trees lined the street. It is a wonderful place to live!!😀😀😀

Yet majority American still think Singapore is china..

There is 2 other points not mentioned that is also important to how Singapore manage its water. The first is the enclosing most part of island so that most of the island serves to harvest the rainwater, leaving little water escaping into the sea. The other strategy is to reduce personal water consumption which has fallen from 165 litres (per person per day) in 2000 to 141 litres 2018.

one minor point that was not mentioned in the video is that loss of water supply due to leakage in pipe network is very low. In 2020, there were five leaks per 100km of pipes per year - down from 10 leaks per 100km of pipes in 2014 - among the lowest incidence rates in the world.

Why is parts of video pixelated . Is it an effect of some sort or is it my net or phone?

More videos about Singapore pls ! Its like that quiet kid in the back of the class .

As a chinese person who grew up in China and US, I really enjoyed my stay in Singapore. For me, it's even better than the US and way better than China.

Always amazed and impressed with the ingenuity and technology implemented by such a small yet clever country and government!

We lived in a gated compound in Singapore when I had an ex pat contract with singtel for two years. We lived on the junction of Rifle Range Road and Dunearn Road. We used to watch the storm drains fill up when there was a rain storm and thousands of gallons of water would pass by in minutes. We once watched a Toyota lorry being tumbled past and destroyed in seconds. Amazing and scary at the same time. Singapore is lovely, and one of the nicest places you could ever want to live. (If you have money).

1:08 - 1:14 Why did he display Singapore as a Chinese country when we literally got 4 official languages and our native people are the orang laut which is Malay.

Singapore wants to reduce dependence on Malaysia for water. It is a strategic resource and cannot be in control of another nation state. And Malaysia has threatened to cut it off in the past. So it's basic risk management and mitigation. Good onya Singapore.

As a tiny island surrounded by water, it is literally "water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink".

You guys are great. Thank you for this.

Malaysia had an opportunity to review the water agreements, specifically the 3 sens sold for the untreated water and 50 sens purchased price of treated water. Malaysia decided not to. The reason is very simple: it costs more than 50 sens to treat 1000 gallons of drinkable water. In other words, Singapore is subsidizing treated water for the State of Johore. And if you consider that the dam and reservoir in Johore is maintained at Singapore's bill, it makes little economic sense for Malaysia to adjust the pricing. But of course the Malaysia Govt does not bring this up when they want to use Singapore as a convenient whipping boy. But no worries, we are well on our way to achieving water self sufficiency.

Sadly no information about the concentrated brine, that gets produced in desalination plants. Do they process it or just dump it back into the ocean?

It’s important to note that when the water deal was signed, in 1962, Singapore was a state of the Malaysian Federation. Malaysia’s parliament expelled Singapore from the union in 1965 over racial conflict (Singapore is majority-minority for Malaysia, and the conservative block in Malaysia feared their voting power). Existing agreements, such as the water deal, survived the expulsion. This history gives Singapore little incentive to revisit the deal with Malaysia today: they didn’t voluntarily secede, they were kicked out of a country for being too racially diverse and for voting too far leftward.

Yes . . Yes . . Yes and Singapore always does the smart thing. Do yourself a blessing and visit that beautiful place. 🙂

If it is Singapore. I believe they can do it

Singapore pay for the dam, pay for the pipes, pay for the land, pay for the workers in MALAYSIA, subsidize the treated water back to Malaysia, at the end of the contract, give everything including plants, dams all back to Malaysia. Malaysia sits there, no need pay workers, no need mantain pipes, plants etc. Get money. Yes very good neighbor and unfair ya.

In my fictional world, Singapore already had unlimited water sources

Great video. Very informative.

selling 1000 gallon at 3 RM cents and buying back at 50 RM cents is just part of the story. The treatment cost per 1000 gallon is 2.40 RM and there is also a need to mention that johor sells water back to its own citizens at 3.95 RM. do the maths..

Our whole country Singapore is like a water sponge, every drop of water from the sky is save 😅

Looking at the video (and a quick superficial look at the comment section), Singapore's water solution and the subsequent business model reminds me quite a bit of how the Dutch do water management. (I'm Dutch)

“NewWater” cracks me up! Such savvy marketing for reclaimed water, which someday will likely dominate water from utilities.

I can't believe some of the massively overpopulated places on this planet. It rains all the time but we need more.

In my fictional world, Malaysia has unlimited clean water supply in all states

Absolutely amazed by the ways Singapore treat and store water. A lot as to be learn for country that has bigger place to store water.

Many Malaysians including Ex PM Mahathir forgotten about this supplement agreement to 2061. about Singapore signs a new water agreement with Johor 24th Nov 1990 Singapore signed a new water agreement with the Malaysian state of Johor on 24 November 1990. The agreement was a supplement to the 1962 Johor River water agreement; both agreements would expire in 2061. The 1990 agreement allowed Singapore to build a dam across Sungei Linggiu (a tributary of the Johor River) to facilitate the extraction of water from the Johor River.[1] This was an important arrangement as Singapore was unable to draw the 250 million gallons (approximately 1.14 billion L) per day of water it was entitled to under the 1962 water agreement unless dams were built over certain parts of the river.[2] In exchange for the Linggiu Dam, Singapore would compensate Johor RM$320 million for the land needed to build the dam and its surrounding facilities. This was in addition to a premium of RM18,000 per ha (per 10,000 sq m) and an annual rent of RM30 for every 1,000 sq ft (per 92.9 sq m) of the land.[3] Singapore would also bear the cost of constructing and maintaining the dam, which would be transferred to Johor at a later date.[4] In addition to the construction of the Linggiu Dam, the 1990 water agreement also allowed Singapore to draw beyond the daily limit of 250 million gallons of untreated water from Johor provided in the 1962 agreement.[5] The additional water would be processed in Johor, and its price would be determined by a formula based on the price of water sold in Singapore and the price of water sold in Johor.[6] Together with the water agreement signed, there was also another agreement signed with Malaysian oil company Petronas that secured the supply of 150 million cu ft (about 4.2 million cu m) of natural gas from Terengganu to Singapore.[7] Talks leading up to the 1990 water agreement had begun as far back as August 1982 when Singapore and Malaysia agreed to study ways, including the joint development of new water facilities, to enable both Singapore and Johor to draw more water from the Johor River to meet their future needs.[8] However, progress was slow as negotiations were hampered by several obstacles, including the premium for the gas and additional water to be paid by Singapore. It required the prime ministers of both Singapore and Malaysia to step in on numerous occasions between August 1986 and January 1988 before a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) - covering the future sales of water and gas to Singapore and two proposed transport links between Singapore and Johor - was concluded on 28 June 1988.[9] Following the signing of the1990 water agreement, Singapore proceeded to build the Linggiu Dam. The dam, together with other saddle embankments and ancillary works to create the Linggiu Reservoir, was completed in April 1993 at a cost of S$310 million.[10] The facility enabled Singapore to draw up to 250 million gallons of water per day from the Johor River.[11]

In my fictional world, Malaysia didn't give their water to Singapore anymore because Singapore already had unlimited water supply

It’s not true. There are several occasions where Johore state were going through drought seasons and water rationing were imposed. The water drawn from Linggiu dam was at dangerous Low level and nothing was able to be extracted from the dam where the the Johore waterwork which is at upstream and SG PUB waterwork at downstream. But SG continue to supply 3 x times the 12% in the contracts amount to 33% filtered and clean water back to Johore people. This shows that SG is already sufficient with its 17 water reservoirs with 5 NEWater plants and 4 desalination plants even during the severe drought seasons in Johore.

Please make an episode about Artificial islands being built by China and Maldives govt.

Unlike the US where we wait for the problem to manifest itself and then just throw money at the problem until it goes away.😂

Anyone from any country can know how to make money. Not just Singapore

Agree with Chee Liang Shi about the cost of importing the raw water from Malaysia. Singapore bore all the costs while Malaysia benefits from the clean water resupplied to them. Their government are fleecing their own people by reselling the clean water to the at such a high price when they did not have to do anything at all and they still complain about selling the water to Singapore at such a low price. The ordinary Malaysians need to know that it is their own government who is to blame for the cost of their water.

"Will Singapore's technology mean the end of water scarcity?" With the cost and energy requirement? Hardly. It's not an approach that would work in poorer countries. Bad water management usual goes hand in hand with political corruption, kleptocracy and being broke af. The country's that most need these solutions won't be able to pay for such facilities. If one could avoid contamination of waste water by separating the graywater/sewage, and by banning certain pollutants from use, then I assume you could cut a few steps out of the treatment process. Ultimately the "critical" water need is domestic water for cooking, sanitation and drinking (also subsistence farming). That probably accounts for a small percentage, but should be GUARANTEED as a human right.

Singapore has a tropical climate which is warm and humid, with abundant total annual rainfall of approximately 2,200 mm. Generally, the eastern parts of Singapore receive less rainfall compared to other parts of the island. The winds are generally light but with a diurnal variation due to land and sea breezes. That is 88 inches per square meter and with a 728.6 km² land area of which half will be the base for our calculation. At 364 square kilometers which is 100 hectares per square kilometer. That's 2.2 cubic meters of water per square meter x 10,000 per square meters per hectare = 22,000 cubic meters per hectare x 100 hectares per square kilometer = 2,200,000 cubic meters per square kilometer x 364 kilometers = 800,800,000 cubic meters per year. At a population of 6 million that is 133.467 cubic meters per Singaporean per year. Using a multi-waste stream super critical wet oxidation process being used by the U.S Navy and by certain industries, it can become a self-sustaining process as long as there is a sufficient organic content in the waste stream or sewage and will turn everything into fresh water.

It can definately help in solving the world water problem !

7:43 "on what has been baptized"... I see what you did there VisualPolitik writer, bravo! :D

Does anyone know the name of the song around 07.57 minutes of the vdo?

I watch just because that rain effect on the intro 🤣

Reminds me of the water supply system in Phoenix.

Johor has plenty of water, and excellent mountain water too. Many johoreans are working in Singapore, and a lot of Singaporeans visitors to Johor. Both benefits from working with each other, complementing one another. It’s the stupid federation government that keeps putting barriers and meddling in on all the affairs.

In my fictional world, Malaysia surpasses Singapore in every area because they have Boboiboy and Ejen Ali

Stillsuits all around!

The headwaters of the New Zealand river, the Taramakau receives 1.8 metres, annually. My Great Grandfather was sent to survey a road there. We always wondered why the road was abandoned.

We need this in California instead of a ridiculous "super train" between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

It's a very inspiring country. Is there anything that they do wrong? Why don't the rest of the world take notice of what they're doing?

The truth is current water pricing still consider cheap if compare to australia and nz

Singapore regarded water supply is national security and put it on book at all cost. So you see how immense important it is for Singaporean.

Need something like Newater in Australia.

singapore is hot, humid country with lots of air-conditioner if there is a centralize way to collect all the water from all the individual air-con units in each building, it will be a significant volume of water too

There was not any information include for the energy source for all of the water treatment. This could easily be a major problem.

Something happened when you were rendering the video, the clips keep breaking.. or maybe it downloaded weird.. idk.

Singapore can try bringing water from the South Pole (Antarctica). Just have a fleet of sufficient huge tankers transporting ice / water from Antarctica to Singapore which can replace water imported from Johore. A thought worth considering and evaluating.

There is another process which is being explored. Obtaining the water from the humidity in the air via Aquamakers.

But you fail to realize that without Malaysia's raw water (which is a vital resource, even much more than oil) at such a lopsided agreement of 3 Malaysian cents per 1000 gallons (Singapore takes 250'000 gallons per day) from Johore, there will NOT be any civilization or business or residents able to thrive and live there. And this agreement last for 99 years from 1962 to 2061 (back then was on the pretext of merger with Malaysia) but Singapore still continue paying such low price for the whole period. Plus during some drought months, after SG took 250K gallons per day, Malaysia have to buy back at higher price from SG. So SG have to thank Malaysia for its goodwill . this secret advantage is what made SG rich and thriving with this vital resource. The only time the agreement was to price reviewed was on its 25th year at 1987 which PM-4 Mahathir was suppose to review but did not.

Nice

No water, no politik. Just like…no water, no life. So, a relevant topic for the channel.

Mostly great video but does your editor not watch these back or something? So much artifacting.

In my fictional world, most countries already do this

Grass always greener on the other side

NeWater although drinkable, is not advisable to be drunk as it is. It is too ultra clean for consumption. Therefore it is mixed with natural water for consumption. Water should have electrolyte and trace minerals, and not be 100% H²O.

Singapore is growing by reclaiming surrounding ocean...

When asked what will Singapore do if Malaysia cut off the water supply, Lee Kuan Yew said: We'll go in and get it!

In my fictional world, Malaysia already do this

Singapore seems to have exhausted places to have water catchment area. What they can do is to consider building/digging really, really deep huge caverns to store water like aquifers The same as they have done to store hydrocarbons/oil under Jurong Island.

Interesting upload. My take is that the combination of desalination and fusion reactors will lead to an infinite supply of fresh water in the next few decades (yeah I know….fusion is always 20 years away). But we’ll get there eventually which would mean greening of deserts and other major alterations to the biosphere. Deserts can become carbon sinks in the next century, reversing global warming. They will also become much more attractive places to live, opening up whole new cities in places that are barely habitable today.

Liking the rain special effects. But I think it'd be cooler if you did it while actually in the rain.

If every country with coastlines set up desalination plants with effective supply chain then there won't be consumable water scarcity ever. Even deserts will be used for cultivation of crops

Singapore adopted the same doctrine as Swiss that building the country like a fortress. A fortress storing wealth.

We will still need to import water from Malaysia even after that agreement lapses. But it will be more expensive for sure so we have to build whatever water resources now to be maybe even 75% self sufficiency

my great city of monterrey nuevo leon the 2nd biggest city in mexico ran out of water I want to know how did that happen there on water rationing now

Excellent video, I was wondering where Singapore got its water. Can you please tell me what they do with the salt produced from desalination? If it is thrown back into the sea it damages marine life.

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One info this splendid video missed. Its that Singapore's drinking water is 100% potable.

Weathering with you vs Colombia

In my fictional world, Malaysia is a first world country

Humanity has gravely mismanaged its water resources. As sea levels rise due to global warming (freshwater aquifers will be salinised) and states and countries fight for a greater share of dwindling water supply for agriculture and human consumption, these technologies to reuse/recycle used water will be crucial in time to come. Singapore is showing how it can be done.

Question, is the tech heavy approach CO2-neutral?

Water makes the world go round.

Can you do a video on India water management.