We've come a long way, water-wise

The rookie engineer burst into the office of the senior engineer.

"Sir, we have a problem. The Colorado River will burst its banks and kill hundreds of people. We desperately need to find a solution now."

The old fella had a bad morning, having quarrelled with his wife at breakfast.

Obviously irritated by the intrusion, he shouted: "Dammit, you idiot!" But instead of being put off, the young man brightened up.

And that was how the Hoover Dam came to be built.

That's an old joke, But it's not a joke to learn in the newspapers this morning that Singapore now has two new reservoirs -- created by the damming of Sungei Punggol and Sungei Serangoon. We now have 17 reservoirs.

It also means that this Little Red Dot has increased its water catchment areas from half to two-thirds of its land area. Wow! This relentless effort, plus technological breakthroughs in filtration and desalination have enabled us to lose no sleep when the first of two water agreements with Malaysia lapses next month.

When I was in school, geography lessons were simple when it came to our water resources.

Singapore has three reservoirs, the teacher would start. If you forget how to mark them from top to bottom on the map during tests or the exam, remember this: Singapore Prime Minister.

That's how we learned that the Seletar was topmost, Peirce [note the spelling!] was in the middle, and MacRitchie was southernmost. Apart from these three smallish reservoirs, all of our drinkable water came via the pipes from across the Causeway. No other catchment areas, period. The Singapore River? It was more the Slimeypour River in the Sixties.

Did you know that during Indonesia's Konfrontasi in the early Sixties, Sukarno sent his commandos to infiltrate the Kota Tinggi area in Johor -- one of the major sources of our water supply then? And that a section of our  soldiers -- from 2 SIR -- was wiped out by the enemy?

Read this fascinating account of the Kota Tinggi Incident from a fellow baby boomer:

http://goodmorningyesterday.blogspot.com/2008/05/ulu-pandan-heritage-trail-7-famous-kota.html

This week, the country -- now arguably a world leader in water technology -- marks the Singapore International Water Week. Yes, all things considered, we have come a long way in terms of our water security.