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Old 15-01-2012, 08:01 PM   #1
lenghan
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Default Droughts more worrying than flash floods: Balakrishnan

AsiaOne
Sunday, Jan 15, 2012
SINGAPORE - While Dr Vivian Balakrishnam commended the recommendations put forward by the expert panel working to ease the flooding situation, he said more should be done to guard against dry spells as well.

Dr Balakrishnan was speaking at ECo Day Out at South West today - a community driven recycling event.

The environment minister said that what has been happening in Singapore is a greater variability in the weather, which means more intense rain but also a possibility of droughts, The Straits Times (ST) reported.

According to ST, Singapore is likely to face a dry spell soon, due to the north-east monsoon, which typically starts in February.

Hence, Singapore's investments and efforts towards building a flood prevention infrastructure should be just as effective in managing other extreme weather conditions like droughts, a local news channel reported.

"A prolonged drought is something of a greater worry to me than a flash flood, which can be resolved over 15 minutes to half an hour," he said.

He added that he is keeping a close eye on the recommendations put forth by the panel to ensure that they also take into consideration future possibilities of dry seasons.

Dr Balakrishnam gave some examples of the recommendations, such as the installation of green roofs, building of detention ponds and using water more efficiently at a local level.

Other recommendations include the use of rooftops and more porous pavements.

While Dr Balakrishnan said he agrees with all the recommendations, he added that it will not be an easy task to turn them into reality.

He said besides the issue of securing finances, there will be trade-offs involved. For example, other potential alternative uses for the land required.

He said it will take time to produce a plan which is both realistic and one that the public will agree on is a value-for-money proposition.

Dr Balakrishnan also updated the public on the anti-flood measures in the works.

The improvement works at Liat Towers and Lucky Plaza is to be completed within three months, and the Public Utilities Board (PUB) will have about six months to decide whether to go ahead with the building of detention ponds, he said.

If they are to be built, PUB will also have to decide where they will be located.

Other works in progress include the Stamford Canal, which is to be checked within nine months to see if its current capacity if being maximised, and an accurate digital elevation map of Singapore, which is to take shape by the end of the year."


What a way to try diverting the problem which his ministry was not able to resolve to another "potential" problem...typical of them!!!!!
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Old 15-01-2012, 10:21 PM   #2
Guppies Onli
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Both are different and separate problems that they are paid to solve. You are paid to solve problem n not to tell us problems.
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Old 15-01-2012, 10:49 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Guppies Onli View Post
Both are different and separate problems that they are paid to solve. You are paid to solve problem n not to tell us problems.
That's why I said they are merely trying to pull wools over the public eyes with such tactic of shifting to another issue and hope we "forget" about the existing problem
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Old 15-01-2012, 11:46 PM   #4
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Is he the one who once asked Dr Lily Neo : 'How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?'

So will he turns around and ask us : 'Do you want me to solve the drought or flood problem? Do you want dry Stamford canal in Orchard Road, or shop along Sungei Orchard like Venice?'.....
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Old 16-01-2012, 12:58 AM   #5
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Expect nothing except more talk. NATCO, no action talk cock only

He should receive zero bonus for being a non achiever, only a talker. I think they should clawback every single cent of bonus he received.
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Old 16-01-2012, 10:04 AM   #6
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If his drought control plan does not work, we will get to learn a new term, flash drought.
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Old 16-01-2012, 10:50 AM   #7
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water shortage is indeed a huge issue for Singapore. we're lucky rainfall over the last few years has been plentiful.
perhaps quite some of us remember the water shortage in the late 90s that coincided with the asian financial crisis ..... woooooo, wouldn't want that to happen again
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Old 16-01-2012, 01:19 PM   #8
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This minister is not very well liked since his "three meals" saga, so anything he says, pple will bite.

But I look at his caution and can understand the reality to it. We did faced a few cases of prolonged drought. Like Aromatix shared, there was one during the late 90s, there was another during El Nino in the early 2000s (or is it the same one) where we faced a lot of bush fires.

Trace back a bit further. There was a year where the reserviours almost dried up. I guess not everyone remember those. But then, we were very worried about water. Further back in the 80s, "Every Drop Counts" and "Be like me, I drink very little water (camel)". Anyone still remember those? Why those campaigns? Obviously, we were facing droughts.

The minister is not totally wrong about flash floods being cleared in an hour but droughts taking months to overcome. I won't shoot him on this, just that, at a time when the flood issue still irks people, he went on to say droughts are more worrying than floods, which won't go down so well. This guy is not gifted in speech.

Last edited by globalcookie; 16-01-2012 at 01:20 PM.
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Old 16-01-2012, 03:42 PM   #9
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He was a top debator in NJC, he forte is talk talk talk until the cows come home, hehe.
Not only the 3 meals, the cat issue (kill them all), and Women's Charter changes, he had a hand in it. That's what he did, what about the things he's supposed to do and didn't?
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Old 16-01-2012, 04:05 PM   #10
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Both issues lare equally important and have to be taken care of.

But he needs to do the immediate task at hand.

What he is doing now is just to divert our attention while at the same time buy more times for himself.


Just to bad for the mall owners and PUB for having the headaches thrown at them.

Aren't we getting all these smoke gas regularly all these years.
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