Singapore is flood-proof by keeping every drop of water to use

The way of flooding the country with small area and serious lack of fresh water source is very smart: the water is flooded by rain and rivers are transferred to the dam - Marina reservoir and 17 reservoirs to gradually use.

Singapore is only 700km ² with 6 million people. This country resists flooding by reusing water and storing rainwater.

Through rivers, sluices and canals, rainwater in 2/3 of Singapore area is put into 17 reservoirs for treatment before being put into use.

According to data from Singapore National Water Agency, since 2011, after completing three more reservoirs including Marina, Punggol and Serangoon , the reservoir area has increased significantly in Singapore.

350 long Marina dam with 9 drainage gates - (Photo: sharesing).

Of these, the dam complex - Marina reservoir is the most important and highly appreciated by the world. This is the latest in Singapore's more than 20-year strategy in dealing with water resources and flood control.

In December 1978, Singapore suffered a massive flood when it rained 512mm of water in just one day.

Water flooded to the chest, thousands of people were evacuated, dead chickens and pigs . At that time, the young government of Singapore had to face the long-term challenge of flooding.

The first job is to clean up, dredge the riverbed, relocate the factory, houses on the banks of the main rivers in Singapore, most notably the Singapore River.

Long-term vision of water use and flood avoidance in Singapore has a big milestone in 2005 with the start of the dam - Marina reservoir.

It took three years to build with a budget of US $ 135 million, the dam - Marina reservoir was completed in 2008. The construction of a dam across the Marina waist is 350m long, forming a freshwater reservoir, providing about 10% of the water. Sweet for the people of Lion Island.

Location of Marina Dam on Singapore map - (Photo: Google Map).

Marina dam has the effect of preventing sea water from entering the island thanks to 10 drainage ports to the sea. If the rain is heavy, the reservoir is about to overflow, with low tide conditions, these 10 exits are open to the sea.

If the tide is high, the pump system is used, reaching a capacity of 40m3 / sec, equivalent to pumping out an Olympic standard swimming pool for more than 1 minute.

And along with other reservoirs, the area of ​​land likely to be flooded in Singapore has decreased significantly.