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Singapore is known for its greenery but it may soon be recognised for its blue — as in blue water.

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Recently finished after about three years of construction, the 240-million Singapore dollar (176 million US) Marina Barrage will create a new source of precious water in a city-state with almost no natural resources of its own.

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Below the bridge are nine steel gates that act as a tidal barrier, the developers said. The gates are activated by giant black cylinders that look like cannons.

On one side of the bridge, sun glints off the rippling greenish sea filled with ships. On the other side, the still water is brownish against a backdrop of Singapore’s business district.

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PUB officials say rainwater will eventually flush out that sea water. Probably by early 2010, they say, the flushing will have created a freshwater lake for drinking and recreational use on the edge of the city’s commercial heart and a burgeoning tourist and entertainment district.

Yap said the type of fish in the water will change along with the water. “There will be a different biodiversity,” he said.

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The barrage itself is completed but final work continues on a visitors’ centre.

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During heavy rain, the barrage’s steel gates can be opened to release storm water into the sea at low tide, the PUB says.

At high tide, seven pumps inside a spacious and bright building at one end of the barrage will send the excess storm water into the sea, helping to ease the threat of flooding in older, low-lying parts of the city.

During a test of the flood gates, water pours into the sea, making it look like a wide stretch of frothy rapids.

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Water from Marina Reservoir and others in the city is one of four sources of Singapore’s water. Some is imported from Malaysia, some comes from a desalination plant, and the rest is known as NEWater. The NEWater starts as treated sewage, which is reclaimed and further purified. Most of it goes to industrial and commercial users, PUB says.

For Singapore, the Marina Barrage project marks the culmination of a cleanup effort that began about two decades ago when working barges still plied and polluted the main Singapore River.

Now, tiny fish dart about in city river water, which is visited at times by long-necked white birds.

But the water is certainly not blue. After heavy rain the rivers become a soupy olive-brown and filled with vegetation, discarded plastic drink bottles and other garbage.

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Clean-up crews in small boats patrol the water system but the PUB is counting on the public to play their part in keeping their aquatic playground and drinking fountain clean.

“We want them to understand that water should be something that you cherish,” Yap said.

Eventually, he said, they hope the water will be blue.

The Marina Barrage is seen under construction in Singapore, in April. Recently finished after about three years of construction, the 240-million Singapore dollar (176 million USD) Marina Barrage will create a new source of precious water in a city-state with almost no natural resources of its own.

(AFP/File/Roslan Rahman)