Marina Barrage
The Marina Barrage (Chinese:滨海堤坝) is a dam in Singapore built across the mouth of the bay, between Marina East and Marina South. It was officially opened on 1 November 2008[1]. It was Singapore's fifteenth reservoir.
The Marina Barrage was conferred the Superior Achievement Award[4] - the highest honour of the competition for the best project entry - at the AAEE Annual Awards Luncheon held in Washington, DC, USA on 6 May 2009. The Marina Barrage beat 33 other entries to take home the top prize in this year's competition organised by the American Academy of Environmental Engineers[5] (AAEE), becoming the second project outside of USA to win the award, in the last decade[6].
The S$226 million project turns Marina Bay and Kallang Basin into a new downtown freshwater Marina Reservoir. It provides water supply, flood control and a new lifestyle attraction.
By keeping out seawater, the barrage forms Singapore’s 15th reservoir and first reservoir in the city. Marina Reservoir, together with the future Punggol and Serangoon reservoirs, will increase Singapore’s water catchment areas from half to two-thirds of Singapore’s total land area.
Marina Barrage also acts as a tidal barrier to keep seawater out, helping to alleviate flooding in low lying areas of the city such as Chinatown, Jalan Besar and Geylang. However, it turns out that flooding areas have now moved to Orchard and Bukit Timah.
When it rains heavily during low-tide, the barrage’s crest gates will be lowered to release excess water from the reservoir into the sea. If heavy rain falls during high-tide, the crest gates remain closed and giant drainage pumps are activated to pump excess water out to sea.
As the water in the Marina Basin is unaffected by the tides, the water level will be kept constant, making it ideal for all kinds of recreational activities such as boating, windsurfing, kayaking and dragonboating etc.
The building of the Marina Barrage required the relocation of Clifford Pier from Collyer Quay to Marina South (see Marina South Pier).
Marina Barrage is open for viewing 24/7. The information counter is open from 9.00am to 6.00pm on weekdays and 10.00am to 8.00pm on weekends. Tours for a maximum capacity of 80 people to the Visitor Centre can be arranged prior to arrival.
The Marina Barrage was the ninth pit stop of The Amazing Race 16,which travelled to Singapore as part of leg 9.
References
- Paragraph 2
- Diagram 2, Drainage Pump
- Sub-heading:Flood Control, Para 3
- AAEE website
- AAEE
- ACN Newswire