Technical Report Draft 1

This proposal has been developed in response to the request for proposals on developing solutions to an engineering problem.

Water demand in Singapore uses approximately 430 million gallons a day. 45% of water usage is consumed by the domestic sector and the non-domestic sector takes up the rest. Singapore’s water supply is obtained from four water sources known as the Four National Taps. The Four National Taps consist of local water catchment, NEWater, desalinated water and Malaysia imported water. Local water catchment, NEWater and desalinated water contribute 40% of the water source, while Malaysia imported water contributes 60% of the water source. These water sources has helped with meeting the increase in water demand. According to Public Utilities Board (PUB) (2018), Singapore’s water demand is expected to double by 2060, with the non-domestic sector using about 70%. With the increase in demand of water usage, water prices are expected to increase gradually. Therefore, to keep up with the water demand in Singapore, planning and implementation of water saving strategy is required.

The geographical location of Singapore is located near the equator which results in higher precipitation. Based on figure 1, Singapore’s rainfall intensity is increasing over the years.

Figure 1: Annual Rainfall Total in Singapore (1980 - 2017)

As Singapore has high rainfall intensity, the practice of stormwater management is essential. Stormwater management is the control of surface runoff. As Singapore becomes more urbanised, there will be an exponential increase in surface runoff. Urban Redevelopment Authority states that the projected distribution by 2030, about 79% of the land in Singapore will be filled with infrastructure (Urban Redevelopment Authority, 2010).

Due to rapid urbanization in Singapore, more high rise buildings and infrastructure were being built which leads to the increase of surface runoff on rooftops. Therefore the implementation of rainwater harvesting on rooftop is regarded as a prefered method in Singapore context.

An ideal forward-looking campus should adopt implementation of rainwater harvesting on rooftop so as to be self sustainable and reduce dependency on external water sources. Nevertheless, rainwater harvesting has not been implemented in the new SIT@punggol. Without the implementation of rainwater harvesting, the reliance on using external water sources will increase the incurred cost of water. Having the SIT@Punggol campus planning committee adopt rainwater harvesting process, external water usage will be reduced and the campus would be self-sustained with the water supply.

The purpose of this report is to propose that the planning committee of SIT@Punggol campus to adopt rainwater harvesting on rooftop of the new campus to reduce the usage of water from external source so as to be self-sustainable.