Marina Barrage

Another interesting place that I went with the Exchange program group was Marina Barrage.

Background Information--

Being an island with little natural resources to speak of, the supply and regulation of water has always been a critical issue in Singapore. In 1857, a philanthropist by the name of Mr. Tan Kim Seng donated the then princely sum of $13,000 to begin work on Singapore's first piped water supply system. An earth embankment was completed in 1867 to retain water in Singapore's first reservoir then known as Thomson Road Reservoir. This was later renamed MacRitchie Reservoir. A second reservoir, Peirce Reservoir was completed in 1910. Singapore has 14 reservoirs and a network of stormwater collection ponds that help prevent flooding during heavy rains. By the end of 2009, the island's total water catchment will increase from half to two-thirds of Singapore's land surface once the Marina Reservoir and Punggol-Serangoon reservoir are completed.

PUB(Public Utility Broad) has set up two galleries to educate the public about water supply in Singapore. One of them is the Marina Barrage.

It is a first a dam built across the Marina Channel, creates Singapore's first reservoir in the city area. This project has three main overarching aims, they not only want to produce a new source of water supply and flood control, but is a lifestyle attraction that will offer a host of recreational activities and water sports to Singaporeans. Marina Barrage is a government-commissioned dam built across the mouth of Marina Channel to create Singapore's 15th reservoir, Marina Reservoir. Officially opened on 31 October 2008, it separates the water in Marina Basin from the seawater.

Function-

There are six galleries at the Marina Barrage that showcase Singapore's efforts in promoting the environment, conservation and sustainability. Visitors can go back in time to learn the history of cleaning up Singapore's rivers, as well as admire an actual working model of the Marina Barrage itself.The S$226 million project turns Marina Bay and Kallang Basin into a new downtown freshwater Marina Reservoir. It provides water supply flood control and a new lifestyle attraction. It also acts as a tidal barrier to keep seawater out, helping to alleviate flooding in low lying areas of the city such as Chinatown, Jalan Besar and Geylang. It is also as a tourist attraction and as a national icon, as people say it is, as it was newly constructed and it has many different exhibitions held in it often. Not only so, the exhibitions are also interactive and they include many different exhibits to make us interested in the knowledge and background information of the Marina Barrage. This interests the tourists to learn more about it.

How does the dam work?

When it rains heavily during low-tide, the barrage’s crest gates will be lowered to release excess water from the reservoir into the sea. If heavy rain falls during high-tide, the crest gates remain closed and giant drainage pumps are activated to pump excess water out to sea. When the crest gates are lowered, it is almost equivalent to using an arm to push down a 70 tonne weight obstruction. Therefore, to move this heavy object, it will take about 30 minutes. Therefore, in order to avoid flooding while the crest gates are being lowered, the crest gates will be able to sense that the water level is rising and that the crest gates must start being lowered now. As the water in the Marina Basin is unaffected by the tides, the water level will be kept constant, making it ideal for all kinds of recreational activities such as boating, windsurfing, kayaking and dragon-boating etc. However so, only rain will affect the water level’s highs and lows. During the high level of rain, excess water will be drained out and this causes the water level top continue being the same. The building of the Marina Barrage required the relocation of Clifford Pier from Collyer Quay to Marina South. The innovation barrage demonstrates how marina barrage works. When the rain falls and water builds up at the back of the barrage and the pumps at work and show the 3-fold benefits of the dam.

Solar panels-alternative source of energy?

The largest solar park in Singapore covers 1200 m ². The 405 solar panels in the solar park of the Marina Barrage generate electricity used for indoor lighting and power points in the Marina Barrage.

With these solar panels covering a large land area of 1200 m², there is 1 solar panel on each 3 m ² of land. This just shows how much space solar panels need for just the generation of electricity for the Marina Barrage. This also shows how efficient the solar panels are in the generation of electricity for the Marina Barrage, and this also shows that it would be possible for Hwa Chong Institution to be solely supported by solar panels only. With only 405 solar panels supporting the whole of Marina Barrage, this shows that there will be more solar panels needed to support Hwa Chong and with the large land area, it would be possible.

Reflection-

After visiting the Marina Barrage and understanding more about the water in Marina Reservoir, I feel that I have had an invaluable experience while visiting the barrage. I felt that I had learnt more about how a dam works and how they are able to use it to generate electricity through the hydro-electrical energy dams, and how they will allow the excess water to escape from the Marina Reservoir when there is much excess water found in the reservoir. Not only so, but I have also learnt that Singaporeans are getting more superstitious, with the architecture of the Marina Barrage even being a number 9, said to be a very important number to the constructors of Marina Barrage.

I have also learnt more about the usage of alternative sources of energy, such as through solar energy, by the use of solar panels to store the solar energy to be converted into electrical energy. Solar panels also take up a lot of space as about 1 solar panel takes up about 3 m². Solar panels are also expensive and they require much cost to build up and maintain.