I refer to http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/changing-weather-patterns-causing-m...
I find this news a big confusion, I quote:
“Rapid development and urbanisation, as well as global warming, are likely to be significant factors which may explain this trend,”
Then it said: “We do not have sufficient land to cater to the most extreme storms ... so we cannot eliminate flash floods completely. It is simply not possible but we mitigate. We are confident of increasing resilience and reducing the occurrence of flash floods.”
We are just a small island and we are not "land locked". How much land do we need to "cater" to the most extreme storms? Whatever storm come, it is supposed to be drained off to the sea if the reservoirs are full.
Unless the design of the drainage system is choked by the Mariana Barrage, there is no reason to have excessive flash floods every year... 14 times a year?
Just observe the main drains and canals linked to the Mariana Barrage you will notice that most of the time, it is at least half full. Before the Barrage is built, you could still see low level or even near empty drains or canals but now no more. Why? This is because of the Barrage which aimed to keep a certain water level, it would mean that all other drains and canal linked to it would have to main a certain level of water as well. They will be literally choked. The Barrage is a dam at the mouth of Singapore River and naturally, when you build a dam, the water level in all the canals and drains will rise.
The reason why our drainage system is weaken so much so that we cannot deal with slightly heavy rain is because the drain has lesser excess capacity to deal with it due to the rise in water levels created by the Barrage. Stop denying that the Marina Barrage is not the cause of flooding. The Marina Barrage is not easy to manage because unlike other dams, it is built right next to the sea. You will need to pump the water out to the sea if there is a hide tide instead of natural discharge of water like other dams by just opening the flood gates.
Whose idea was it to build the Marina Barrage?
Goh Meng Seng
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/gohmengseng.freedom/posts/10201442385034733