Now, here's a nifty little win-win exchange.

Under the 1962 Water Agreement drafted before Singapore's independence, our Public Utilities Board (PUB) is entitled to draw up to 250 million gallons of water from the Johor River daily.

In exchange, Johor is entitled to a daily supply of treated water of up to 2 percent of the raw water it supplies to Singapore.

This amounts to about five million gallons.

Over the years, PUB has been supplying about 16 million gallons of potable water per day to Johor.

And in this dry weather season, where water levels in Johor's Sungai Layang dam has been severely affected, the Malaysian state's water regulatory body, Badan Kawalselia Air Johor (BAKAJ), has put up a call to Singapore for assistance.

So, starting on June 4, PUB is providing an additional six million gallons per day as a temporary measure for a month.

This increases Singapore's supply of treated water to Johor to 22 million gallons daily.

According to a press release, PUB has been injecting the additional supply of potable water from the Johor River Waterworks (JRWW) that PUB operates in Johor.

This is to supplement the water supply in areas serviced by the dam.

So, this means, Johor supplies Singapore with raw water and the PUB in Singapore supplies potable water to Johor.

Effects of current dry spell

The current dry weather is a cause for concern. Water levels in the Linggiu Reservoir dipped to an all-time low of 33 percent from 40 percent in April.

Johor and Singapore draw water from there, even as the reservoir is operated by PUB.

Supplying the additional water will not affect Singapore's water supply in the short-term.

The last time there was such a request by Bakaj was from Aug 14 last year to Jan. 8 this year that saw PUB increase its supply by an additional five to six million gallons under a similar arrangement.

H/T The Straits Times

Top photo via Noé Alfaro Flickr

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