S$4m system to monitor S’pore’s coastal waters

SINGAPORE — A new water-monitoring system that allows for real-time monitoring of the waters around Singapore has been launched, so that the authorities can respond more quickly to water pollution incidents and potential pollution hotspots.

With the new system, called Neptune, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will also be able to send out alerts of chemical spills and algae blooms to the public through its mobile application myENV by the end of this year, so that the public would know which spots to avoid for recreational activities like swimming.

In 2008, the NEA found the waters at Pasir Ris beach unsuitable for swimming in, as the bacteria count of enterococcus, which is found in human faeces, was too high. The beach was declared safe for swimming last year.

The NEA said Neptune would allow for earlier alerts and more “timely” responses to such incidents.

“With Neptune, we will have better capabilities to backtrack and see where the pollution originated,” said a spokesperson for the NEA.

The S$4-million system was jointly developed by the NEA and Singapore Delft Water Alliance.

Comprising eight solar-powered buoy-based stations, the final buoy was deployed yesterday at Cyrene, an offshore reef.

Speaking at the deployment, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan called this a “critical” development, given that Singapore is one of the busiest ports in the world.

“We want to maintain a safe, high-quality (maritime) environment ... (Real-time data will) allow us to anticipate problems or the evolution of a problem even as it occurs.

“This is also a symbol of our commitment to make sure that environment data is transparent and available to all stakeholders,” Dr Balakrishnan added.

Each buoy tracks and sends live updates of the ocean conditions to an operational management system located on mainland Singapore for processing.

Parameters measured include pH, algal nutrients and concentration of dissolved oxygen.

They each weigh about 1,000kg and are fitted with Global Positioning Systems and anti-theft alarms.

All eight buoys were deployed over this month. A test will be carried out in the next year for necessary modifications to be made.

Neptune will complement the NEA’s current manual water monitoring programme, in which officers collect water samples from six designated locations and analyse them in laboratories.