Singapore’s Marina Barrage Turns 10!

This year the Singapore Public Utilities Board’s (PUB) multi-purpose Marina Barrage is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Read how it is boosting the city-state’s water supply, minimizing flooding risks, and providing a recreational space for locals and tourists.

By Robert C. Brears*

Augmenting water supply

The Pub Marina Barrage operates nine hydraulically-operated steel crest gates spanning across the 350-meter-wide Marina Channel. Each gate is 26.5m-wide and 5m-high. These gates help keep freshwater in from a 10,000-ha catchment zone and keep seawater out, providing the city with a ready source of water supply.

Minimizing flooding risks

The opening of the Marina Barrage helps reduce the risks of severe flooding in low-lying areas of the city. During periods of heavy rainfall and low-tide, the steel crest gates are sequentially opened to release excess stormwater into the sea. When heavy rainfall occurs during high tide the gates remain closed and excess water from the reservoir is pumped into the sea. In total there are seven pumps that are each 7.8m in height. Each pump can drain 40 cubic meters of water per second, the equivalent of draining an Olympic-sized swimming pool in a minute.

Recreational space

With the dam’s gates and pumps keeping the reservoir’s water levels constant, the freshwater lake is utilized for a variety of water sports including kayaking and dragon boating. The Marina Barrage has a green roof that is about the size of four football fields offering visitors a recreational space for kite flyers, picnickers, and those seeking a view of Singapore’s skyline. A pedestrian bridge also sits on top of the steel crest gates enabling walking, jogging or cycling around the Marina Bay. Throughout the year the Marina Reservoir also plays host to large sporting and cultural events.

10 events to celebrate 10 years

PUB is holding 10 events throughout the year to commemorate the Marine Barrage’s anniversary including:

· ‘Behind the scenes’ — what makes the Marina Barrage tick? This event will provide visitors with a better understanding of how the barrage was created, the engineering behind it, and behind-the-scenes videos of how it all works

· Get Active @ Marina Barrage offers a day of land and sporting activities to encourage the community to be active and have fun

· Movie Marathon @ Marina Barrage with a picnic and movie on the Marina Barrage’s green roof

· Swap Le @ Marina Barrage with visitors able to swap clothes, books, toys, and more with other visitors to help spread the message of reduce, reuse, and recycle

The take-out

21st Century infrastructure is designed in a way so multiple benefits can accrue from one infrastructure asset.

*Robert C. Brears is the author of Urban Water Security (Wiley), The Green Economy and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus (Palgrave Macmillan), Natural Resource Management and the Circular Economy (Palgrave Macmillan), and Blue and Green Cities (Palgrave Macmillan). He is Founder of Our Future Water, Mitidaption, and Mark and Focus.

LinkedIn Groups: Our Future Water / Urban Water Security

Twitter: Mitidaption / YoungH20Leader / Our Future Water