Water Demand Management in Singapore: Involving the Public

Water demand management requires the implementation of instruments and strategies that consider pricing, mandatory water conservation requirements and the engagement of the public and private sectors as well as of the society at large. In the case of Singapore, water is treated as an economic good. It is priced to recover the full costs of production and to reflect the scarcity of the resource and the high cost of developing additional water sources. Within a framework for water conservation, public education, information and awareness instruments have played a very important part in making the public appreciate the importance of conserving the resource. This paper analyses the water demand strategies that have been developed in the city-state, with emphasis on education efforts and on the results obtained in terms of water conservation. Lessons learnt from this study can provide very useful experiences for cities in developed and developing countries on the type of policies that could be successful in reducing consumption as well as in providing alternative supplies of water for both the domestic and the industrial sectors They also provide useful insights on the different ways to make the public realise the importance of using water sustainably for its long-term conservation even when immediate access to clean water may not be an issue.