Addressing Urban Water Resource Scarcity in China from Water Resource Planning Experiences of Singapore

Abstract

The world wide water crisis we are facing nowadays is no longer how to acquire new water resource, but rather how to manage the available water resource. The water resource management practices in China are still under the guidance following conventional mindset and compliances. It was yet brought up to people’s attention that water resource planning is a crucial element of urban planning, not to mention the effort that should be spent in investigating and exploring the potential value of water to economy, esthetics and social development. This paper introduced the practices of Singapore government in managing its local water resources, i.e. recovery of the polluted water environment in its early years, integrated planning of catchment and reservoirs for stormwater storage, acquiring new resource to supplement and replacing conventional water resource, establishing public outreach network for water demand management and water resource protection, adopting water sensitive urban design to rediscover the added value of water resource to urban development, etc. By reviewing the mechanism of Singapore’s practices on sustainable planning, the existing urban water resources shortage situation in China would be addressed and suggestion for urban water resource sustainable planning and use would also be given.