Marina Barrage - 07/02/2009

YCIS Net of Young NTUC organised the trip to Marina Barrage on 07/02/2009. As I was involved in the committee, I was there early as to "Chop" a good place for the participants.

There is no entrance fee, with free shuttle bus from Maina Bay MRT Station and Marina Barrage is a great place for picnic, gathering, relaxing, kite flying, sight seeing, etc.... :D

The event ended in the evening after a guided tour around and to the Gallery.

About the Marina Barrage

Built across the mouth of the Marina Channel, the Marina Barrage creates Singapore’s 15th reservoir, and the first in the heart of the city. With a catchment area of 10,000 hectares, or one-sixth the size of Singapore, the Marina catchment is the island’s largest and most urbanised catchment.

Together with two other new reservoirs, the Marina Reservoir will boost Singapore’s water catchment from half to two-third’s of the country’s land area. The Marina Barrage is the result of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s vision nearly two decades ago when he envisaged damming the mouth of the Marina Channel to create a freshwater reservoir.

3-in-1 Benefits

a. Water Supply

The Marina Barrage is a dam built across the 350-meter wide Marina Channel to keep out seawater, forming Singapore’s first reservoir in the city and 15th reservoir. Marina Reservoir combines with the future Punggol and Serangoon reservoirs will increase Singapore’s water catchment areas from half to two-thirds of Singapore’s land areas. With the barrage in place, the Marina Basin will turn into a body of freshwater through natural flushing in one two to years. The freshwater will then be treated using advanced membrane technology before consumption.

Local catchment water is one of the Four National Taps, with the other three being imported water, NEWater and desalinated water. As one of the pillars of local water supply, Marina Reservoir will meet more than 10% of Singapore’s current water demand.

b. Flood Control

The Marina Barrage is part of a comprehensive flood control scheme to alleviate flooding in the lowlying areas in the city such as Chinatown, Boat Quay, Jalan Besar and Geylang. During heavy rain, the series of nine crest gates at the dam will be activated to release excess storm water into the sea when the tide is low. In the case of high tide, giant pumps which are capable of pumping an Olympics-size swimming pool per minute will drain excess storm water into the sea.

c. Lifestyle Attraction

As the water in the Marina Basin is unaffected by the tides, its water level will be kept constant all year round. This is ideal for all kinds of recreational activities such as boating, windsurfing, kayaking and dragonboating etc.