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Objectives
| The environment has become the catch phrase of our times with concern worldwide focusing on the sustainability of natural resources and nature conservation. Singapore, as a tiny island city-state, does not have a rural hinterland or natural resources. Yet the environment has been considered no less important and has presented the challenge of its reconciliation with urban management. |
Since 1968, when the concept of a " Clean and Green Garden City " was first introduced through parliament, Singapore’s political leadership has taken an active role in positively managing the environmental impact of urban growth and industrialization, and achieving a balance between conservation and development. The aim, in the words of Lee Kuan Yew, is to become " a city worthy of an industrious people whose quest for progress is matched by their appreciation for the beauty of nature."
The objectives of maintaining a high quality of environment can thus be stated as :
Strategies
Since its inception, ENV has adopted a strategy which seeks to maintain the quality of the environment in Singapore, taking into consideration the control or preventive technology available, the practical constraints of enforcement, the potential threat to the environment, the cost of the economy and the long term objectives of the management.
The key elements of the strategy are long term planning, preventive control of environmental threats, comprehensive monitoring of environmental quality, effective legislation and enforcement, adequate provision of environmental infrastructure and use of appropriate environmental technology.
Effective long term planning and preventive control are crucial to the success of any environmental management strategy and their importance cannot be over-emphasized. Many environmental problems can be pre-empted with proper planning and preventive control. Major environmental problems can also be prevented by screening out pollutive developments, industrial processes and technologies.
Strict and effective enforcement of environmental legislation is another important element of a successful environmental management strategy. Environmental legislation must be strictly enforced to ensure that any infringement is quickly detected and duly penalized.
A proper system for monitoring the
state of environmental quality must be in place in order to provide the
environmental authorities with the necessary information to check if environmental
controls and policies adopted are having the desired effect. It also provides
a check on environmental quality trends which may deteriorate as circumstances
change. Such information enables the authorities to detect emerging environmental
problems as well as to pre-empt them by finding and implementing solutions
at an early stage.
Since 1968, when the concept of a "clean and green garden city" was first introduced through Parliament, Singapore’s political leadership has taken an active role in positively managing the environmental impact of urban growth and industrialization and achieving a balance between conservation and development. The government has positively pursued policies to safeguard the environment by adopting an integrated approach on the environment and development of Singapore. A host of programmes are suggested and implemented. Pursuant to the Green Plan, six inter-ministerial workgroups were established with a view to drawing up action programmes and action plan on various aspects of the environment.
The Singapore Green Plan
The Green Plan describes the policy
directions Singapore will take towards realisation of the long term vision
of a model Green City. The Green Plan looks at all the areas of environmental
concern and describes what the government has done for the environment
and what it proposes to do to preserve, protect and enhance the environment
for the future.
The 1990s will see a new era in environmental management
in Singapore. To meet the increasing affluent population's expectations
of a higher standard of living, Singapore will evolve into a model Green
City - where a gracious environment will complement a higher quality of
life. The Singapore Green Plan aims to achieve this.
The vision is of a Singapore as a
Model Green City by the year 2000. It will be a city with high standards
of public health and a quality environment. One which is conducive to gracious
living with clean air, clean land, clean water and a quiet living environment.
A city with people who are concerned for and take personal interest in
the care of not just their immediate environment but of the global environment
as well. A city which will also be a regional centre for environmental
technology. The role of the public in achieving this is crucial. We will
have to educate people and to instill in every Singaporean a national commitment
to protect and preserve the environment at home and globally.
Support, commitment and participation
will be seeked from the private sector, the media and non-governmental
groups to develop a culture of proactive environmental awareness. Singapore
will support international efforts to protect the global environment and
will play an active role in international conferences and seminars on environmental
concerns. Singapore aims to become a regional centre for environmental
technology from which environmental engineering services can be provided
to the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
The Singapore Green Plan was presented at the Earth Summit
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992, which set out the principles for
sustainable development. AGENDA 21, a blueprint for a global action programme
on sustainable development was worked out. The Singapore Green Plan fits
into this international blueprint. The challenge ahead that lies ahead
is to turn blueprints into reality.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION STRATEGIES
Key Strategies for Control of Sources of Pollution
The key strategies adopted by Singapore since the early seventies to control land-based sources of pollution can be categorized as those of Prevention, Enforcement, Monitoring and Education.
Prevention of pollution requires proper land-use planning, as well as provision of environmental, infrastructure for the collection, treatment and safe disposal of air, liquid and solid wastes. Once preventive measures are established, controls are stringently enforced to ensure that pollution control equipment and processes are properly maintained and operated.
Monitoring of the ambient air and watercourses ensures that these pollution control measures are adequate. Public education is aimed at promoting a high level of environment awareness among the general public, such that positive values and attitudes may emerge to encourage action to reduce pollution of the environment must be cultivated among the general public, and the population must be encouraged to take an active role in the protection and maintenance of the environment.
The responsibilities of implementing the above key strategies rest with various government departments principally within the Ministry of the Environment (ENV). The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) under the Ministry of National Development is responsible for preparing the Concept Plan which provides the long-term plan for the physical development of Singapore.
Land for various uses is safeguarded under the Concept Plan to achieve social and economic development and to maintain a quality environment. Environment controls have been factored into this land-use planning to help ensure that developments are properly sited and are compatible with surrounding land-uses to achieve a quality environment. The areas covered under the Singapore Green Plans are as follows:
The impact of all developments on the environment is assessed and considered before each development is allowed to proceed. Pollution Control Department (PCD) of the Environment Ministry is consulted by the planning and development authorities on proposed new developments. PCD works very closely with other authorities such as the Ministry of national Development, Urban Redevelopment Authority, the Housing and Development Board, Jurong Town Corporation and the Economic Development Board. PCD checks the proposals, assesses the impact on the environment and ensures that new industrial and residential developments are properly sited and are compatible with the surrounding land use. For new industrial developments, PCD processes building plans and assesses the environmental impact to ensure that the prospective industries will not pose unmanageable health and safety hazards, and pollution problems in Singapore. PCD assesses and ensures that measures are incorporated into the manufacturing processes to minimize the generation of industrial effluent and that the effluent can be treated to comply with the prescribed standards. For those industries which generate a large quantity of industrial effluent, PCD will check with the Sewerage Department to ensure that the existing sewers serving the proposed sites have the capacity to handle the flow of industrial effluent. A proposed industry will be allowed only if emissions of pollutants can comply with standards, wastes can be safely managed and properly disposed of, and the factory can be sited in a suitable industrial estate. All these have resulted in an orderly development within a good environment.
To ensure that economic growth and industrial development
are not achieved at the expense of a clean and healthy environment, firm
measures have been adopted to prevent and control the pollution of our
land, sea, air and water.
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Singapore has seen a steady growth in its
industries since the early 1960s; it now has a significant variety and
number of factories and is the third largest petroleum refining center
in the world. Some emissions from these industrial activities are inevitable,
but the Government has taken steps, through the formation of the Anti-Pollution
Unit (APU) in April 1970, to ensure that air pollution is kept in check.
Existing industries and power generation plants are equipped with pollution
control equipment to comply with the emission standards specified in the
Clean Air (Standards) Regulations. To minimise the emission of sulphur
dioxide into the air, the sulphur content in fuels used by industries is
limited to not more than 2% by weight. Industries sited near urban areas
are required to use fuel with a lower sulphur content. The use of open
fires to dispose of wastes has been banned since 1973 under the Clean Air
Act (Prohibition on the Use of Open Fires) Order.
In January 1997, PCD implemented the Source
Emission Test Scheme for industries. Under the Scheme, industries are
required to conduct source emission test on their own or engage accredited
consultants to do so on their behalf. This would help industries to monitor
its air emissions regularly and to take measures, to ensure compliance
with the prescribed air emission standards.
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The Clean Air Act was introduced in 1971 to empower
the APU to control air pollution from industrial and trade premises. Certain
industries which have a high potential for air pollution are designated
as "scheduled premises" in the Act to enable stricter control to be exercised
on them. The written permission of the APU must be obtained before any
alterations or extensions are carried out to manufacturing plants of scheduled
premises. Newly-constructed scheduled premises must also have the written
permission of the APU before they are occupied and used. The Clean Air
Act also empowers the APU to require occupiers of industrial and trade
premises to take the necessary measures to reduce the emission of air pollution,
to comply with the Regulations.
Regular spot checks are carried out by ENV on factories and other premises, especially the larger potential polluters, as part of an ongoing enforcement programme to control pollution. During such checks, all possible sources of pollution are scrutinized to ensure that appropriate pollution control systems have been installed and are being operated in the proper manner. Source tests are also carried out to check for compliance with the emission and effluent limits stipulated in the Clean Air (Standards) Regulations and the Trade Effluent Regulations. ENV also investigates complaints of air and water pollution received from the public. The air quality in Singapore is currently monitored by a telemetric network of 15 air monitoring stations located throughout the main island. These stations are linked by telephone lines to a control station in ENV and readings of air quality are transmitted directly from the monitoring stations to the control station is predetermined intervals or on demand. The air quality in Singapore is generally within the ambient quality standards and guidelines set by the World Health Organization and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the United States. |
Water Pollution Control and Wastewater Treatment
The quality of the water supply is protected by the following measures:
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A substantial portion of the main island has been set aside as water catchments for the collection, storage and protection of our water resources. Water within the water catchments has to be protected from all forms of water pollution. Developments or activities which generate water pollution or involve toxic chemicals are not permitted within catchment areas. This planning policy, together with the strict regulations enacted to penalize illegal discharges of water has helped to preserve the quality of the water in the reservoirs. The protection of water resources in Singapore is complemented by the provision of comprehensive wastewater treatment facilities for all the wastewater generated within Singapore. Since 1972, ENV has launched a programme to provide a comprehensive sewerage system for the collection and treatment of wastewater generated in Singapore.
The water quality of various inland water bodies and coastal
areas is monitored regularly. Within the water catchments areas, the water
quality of 47 streams and 13 reservoirs is monitored on a monthly basis.
Outside the water catchments, the water quality of 17 rivers and streams
is also monitored on a monthly basis. The seawater quality around Singapore
is monitored through analyses carried out on seawater samples collected
from nine sampling points in the straits of Johor and ten sampling points
in the Straits of Singapore. For inland water bodies, the parameters monitored
include pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended
solids, ammonia and sulphide. Coastal water samples are analysed for metals,
total organic carbon and other physical, chemical and bacteriological parameters.
The quality is generally within acceptable standards. The provision, operation
and maintenance of sewerage system is governed by the Water Pollution
Control and Drainage Act (WPCDA) which was enacted in 1975. Treatment
and discharge of industrial wastewater are regulated by the Trade Effluent
Regulations, 1976, a subsidiary legislation of the WPCDA.
Hazardous Substance and Toxic Industrial Waste Control
As industries developed and diversified into specialist
chemicals and other high technology processes over the years, the quantity
and variety of chemicals imported, transported, stored and handled in Singapore
have increased. Some of these industries also generate toxic wastes from
their processes which need to be disposed of in a safe manner. To minimize
the risks associated with the transport, storage and handling of hazardous
substances and toxic wastes, ENV has set up controls to ensure the safe
and proper management of hazardous chemicals and toxic wastes.
Hazardous Substance Control
The import, transport, storage and use of hazardous chemicals are controlled under the Poisons Act and the Poisons (Hazardous Substances) Rules. Any person or company engaged in such activities is required to obtain a poisons licence or permit from ENV.
To minimise risk from the handling of hazardous substances,
industries which use large quantities of such chemicals are sited on off-shore
islands or industrial estates which are located far away from residential
estates. In October 1996, ENV implemented the Safety Audit Scheme to spur
industries to systematically identify and rectify weaknesses in their management
systems and practices of handling hazardous substances on a regular basis.
The Scheme covers industries which store and handle hazardous chemicals
in large quantities. These industries can either conduct their own safety
audit studies in-house or engage accredited consultants to do so on their
behalf.
Toxic Industrial Wastes Control
The Environmental Public Health (Toxic Industrial Waste)
Regulations, 1987, control the generation, collection, storage, transportation,
treatment and disposal of toxic industrial wastes. Under the Act, a licence
is required for the collection and disposal of toxic industrial wastes.
Licences are issued to companies that have the necessary facilities to
collect and dispose of those wastes specified in the licences in a safe
and proper manner. Hospitals wastes are classified as toxic and are required
to be stored and collected separately in colour coded bags and containers
by licensed contractors, and incinerated in dedicated high temperature
hospital waste incinerators.
Marine Pollution
Singapore, being strategically located at the crossroads between the Asia Pacific and the Middle East / Europe, remains one of the world’s busiest ports with a shipping tonnage of 623.8 million gross tonnes in 1993. We are the number one bunkering centre in the world and a leading regional refining centre. The Straits of Malacca and Singapore Straits are very busy waterways used by international maritime traffic. Singapore is therefore very vulnerable to pollution, whether accidental or operational, from ships. An estimated 10 per cent of pollution of the sea worldwide come, however, from land-based sources.
With affluence and an increased population, there is a greater need for recreational facilities. Marine environment activities like swimming, wind surfing, skiing and diving have grown in popularity amongst Singaporeans and tourists. There is also a growing aquaculture industry. All of these demand that our surrounding waters be kept clean.
On 30 August 1990, Singapore passed the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea Act (PPSA) in order to implement the International Convention for the Protection of Pollution from Ships 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978. The PPSA came into effect on 1 February 1991. The PPSA prescribes measures to prevent operational pollution and minimize pollution from ships anywhere in the world as well as other ships while using Singapore waters. The Act reflects Singapore’s commitment to the protection of the marine environment and to improve the quality of our environment by raising standards.
The Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) is responsible
for controlling marine pollution from ships and oil tankers by enforcing
the provisions of the PPSA. The PSA maintains constant patrols of the port
waters and the main rivers and basins to ensure compliance with this legislation,
enhance the general safety of navigation, and exercise control over derelicts
and abandoned craft. In the event of a substantial oil spill occurring,
prompt and effective action is necessary to minimise environmental damage.
The PSA has therefore prepared contingency plans for dealing with incidents
likely to result in serious marine pollution.
One of the important aspects of pollution control is waste
management. Waste management merits a separate treatment from the foregoing
pollution laws as it cuts across various statutes and has assumed great
importance in the context of growing affluence and rapid industrial development
in Singapore.
Solid Waste Collection Disposal
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Waste Minimisation
With economic development, industrialization and growing affluent, the generation of refuse in Singapore increased tremendously by more than 6-fold in the last 25 years. As a result, it places severe demand on the resources of ENV to provide the necessary facilities for refuse collection and disposal. The increasing waste output is a great concern to the Ministry of the Environment as land is scarce here. There is a limit to the number of incineration plants that can be built and the availability of dumping sites. In 1990, ENV launched a pilot project on segregation and recovery of waste in housing estates. Recycling bins were placed at strategic positions for the residents in the pilot project area to deposit their segregated waste materials. The pilot study showed that the population was generally supportive of waste recycling., ENV further extended the waste recycling programme to other housing estates, schools, hotels, offices and factories.
A Waste Minimisation Department (WMD) was formed
in February 1992 to look into measures to reduce waste generation and waste
recycling. Beside formulating policies and projects to enhance waste minimization
and recycling, WMD also promotes the use of recycled products in order
to create demand for such products. WMD also provides secretariat support
to the Green Labelling Scheme which aims to promote "green consumerism"
in Singapore. The Green Labelling Scheme identifies products which are
more environmentally friendly and allows them to use Green Labels as recognition
of their status.
Nature Conservation and Greenery
Singapore’s rapid urbanisation and industrial growth have
exerted a heavy toll on its flora and fauna. The destruction of habitats
was inevitable, as coastal areas were reclaimed to provide more land and
forests were cut down to provide residential and commercial sites. Since
1908, specific areas have been set aside as forest reserves. Today 5 per
cent of the land area has been set aside for nature reserves, national
parks, catchment area parks, bird sanctuaries and nature parks and gardens.
The flora and fauna in these areas are governed by laws specifically enacted
to protect them. The nature reserves (Bukit Timah Nature Reserves and Central
Catchment area) and the national parks (Botanic Gardens and Fort Canning
Park) are governed by the National Parks Act (NPA) and the national Parks
Regulations. The Act establishes the National Parks Board as a body corporate,
with wide powers to control and manage the national parks and nature reserves.
Catchment area parks are governed by the Public Utilities Act and the Public
Utilities (Catchment Area Parks) Regulations. The Parks and Recreation
Department and the National Parks Board Board plan, develop, maintain and
regulate the parks and greenery provisions of Singapore to meet the challenge
of maintaining Singapore as a Garden City.
Environmental
Educational Programme
Cleaning
of Singapore River
