Singapore World Water Day 2015

On 21st March 2015, Earthlink NTU organized Singapore World Water Day 2015 at Jurong Lake, adopted by Earthlink NTU in 2012. This was the first time Earthlink had taken the responsibility of organizing the entire event. This year, the event worked on three themes  Water and Sustainable Development, Water Conservation and Water Problems Locally and Globally. The event was held in support of World Water Day, a globally celebrated movement pioneered by the UN in 1993.

World Water Day is especially meaningful to Singapore as Singapore has historically faced struggle with ensuring self-sufficiency of water supplies. Rolling out measures such as the construction of multiple reservoirs, desalination water plants and NEWater plant were implemented to improve its capabilities in this area.

Our Guest of Honor was Ms. Grace Fu, the Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources graced the opening ceremony of the event. Ms. Fu delivered a speech emphasizing the importance of water conservation in Singapore. She tied in the views of then critically ill Mr. Lee Kuan Yew into the speech, noting that Mr. Lee had always placed a huge emphasis on water policy, even stating it to be paramount and that all other policies would  bow before water policy.

At the event, booths were set up at Pavilion Area at Jurong Lake. One of highlighted display was the mural done by River Valley High School which made up of 50000 water bottle caps. The mural brought across the message of conserving water, in order to sustain sufficient water supply. Moreover, the booth of Engineers Without Borders (EwB) Asia showcased a few sustainable engineering solutions which provide clean water to disadvantaged communities in developing countries. These include the LifeStraw, which allows one to suck up clean water from a water source, as well as Ceramic Pot Filter and Biosand Filter, both relatively small-scale and designed for use in household.

There was also the The Dorsal Effect s booth. They explained their aim of helping fishermen in Lombok, Indonesia in securing alternative livelihood that is promoting tourism industry in the area instead of hunting sharks for their fins which contributed to shark fins trade. Earthlink NTU, the event organizer, also set up our own booth showcasing the events we have held throughout the year. NTU Green and Sustainable Technologies and Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI) were there with informative posters about water technologies and research.

Activities were also held during the event such as mass walk, mass qigong and a fishing  clinic , hosted by the NTU Anglers Club. The intent of the mass walk in particular was to symbolize how far people in developing countries often have to walk to obtain clean water. This was to encourage the particpants to be grateful for having clean water out from the tabs.

All in all, the event combined a myriad of activities and information booths which serve the best information and habits to promote and inculcate efficient water use.