Future-proofing Singapore’s Coastal Spaces – Interview with Sarah Hiong, Deputy Director of Coastal Protection, PUB

By Sarah Hiong 24 July, 2024

How is PUB future-proofing Singapore's coastlines against rising seas? Find out in our interview with Hiong, Deputy Director of Coastal Protection at PUB, where we discuss adaptive planning, innovative projects & community engagement

PUB’s strategy is to adopt an “adaptive planning” approach, which means coastal spaces are planned to be adaptive to 1) uncertainty, 2) conditions & 3) uses
Site specific studies are being conducted to find best solutions, incl. nature-based; 'Long Island' meets various national needs - expected to take few decades to plan & implement
Community preparedness goes hand in hand with engineering solutions but this can be a hard sell so PUB has developed multi-channel touchpoints to capture public interest
Author: Sarah Hiong
Sarah is currently Deputy Director, Strategic Planning & Partnership of Coastal Protection Department of PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency. Her team formulates foundational planning strategies and principles for the implementation of coastal protection infrastructure to achieve long-term coastal resilience to climate change, and strategises and builds new long-term partnerships with public stakeholders. Prior to this, Sarah led PUB’s metering operations team, driving digital transformation of metering business processes and customer engagement.
Read more from Sarah Hiong →

Singapore is one of the most vulnerable cities to rising sea levels. In April 2020, its National Water Agency, PUB, also took on the responsibility of protecting Singapore’s coastline from sea-level rise. In this capacity, PUB leads and coordinates whole-of-government efforts to protect Singapore from rising seas and the holistic management of inland and coastal flood risks.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Sarah Hiong, Deputy Director of the Strategic Planning & Partnership of Coastal Protection Department of PUB, to get the latest on Singapore’s efforts and initiatives on coastal protection and flood resilience. In our discussion, Hiong outlines the adaptive approach of PUB, the crucial role of the community in coastal protection and shares insights into PUB’s innovative projects, community engagement strategies and use of nature-based solutions.

CWR: Thank you for sitting down with us, Sarah. It was impressive hearing your presentation at Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) 2024 on all the latest initiatives and actions by PUB to future-proof Singapore’s coastal spaces in a changing climate. For those who weren’t at SIWW 2024, can you share a few of your key points?

Sarah Hiong (SH): PUB was appointed the national coastal protection agency, and we started looking at rising sea levels as a “threat” and its impact on Singapore’s coastlines. We recognise the imperative for us to enhance the resilience of Singapore’s coastline and future-proof it against climate change.

PUB’s strategy is to adopt an “adaptive planning” approach

PUB’s strategy is to adopt an “adaptive planning” approach. This means our coastal spaces are planned to be:

  

(i) Adaptive to uncertainty, whereby we will sequence possible coastal adaptation measures into “pathways” without pre-determining a fixed climate change scenario to plan for. Then, where feasible, we raise or enhance the coastal protection measures incrementally while we monitor the actual rate of sea level rise;

(ii) Adaptive to conditions, whereby along segments of the coastline that may have coastal protection measures setback from the water edge, we will design these areas to be transiently floodable during very high tides or storm surge such that they are able to recover quickly after the waters recede and resume their normal-day function;

(iii) Adaptive to uses, whereby we will plan and design coastal protection measures to have multiple uses that are valued by the community, for example co-locating a bund wall with a cycling path or implementing hybrid nature-based solutions.

CWR: Singapore has recognised sea level rise as an existential threat and PUB is responsible for protecting Singapore’s coastlines. How is the agency approaching this massive task that comes with a lot of uncertainty? And any lessons learnt so far?

SH: We have found that achieving coastal resilience is a multi-decadal whole-of-nation effort, and PUB cannot do it alone. As we build a climate-resilient living space, we also need to work alongside a climate-resilient community, who understands the risks and be ready and know how to respond to climate hazards. Take for example, while engineers can design areas to be transiently floodable with the appropriate flood-resilient infrastructure, these areas can only be safe and functional if the public understands and accepts that these areas will be flooded occasionally, and knows the actions to take in the event of a flood, for example evacuate from these designated areas in a timely manner. Here, community preparedness and resilience goes hand in hand with engineering solutions and flood forecasting technologies.

Community preparedness & resilience goes hand in hand with engineering solutions & flood forecasting tech…

…but this can be a hard sell so PUB has developed multi-channel touchpoints to sustain & capture public interest…

…e.g. “Our Coastal Conversations”  sessions

This can be a “hard sell” because the work is complex and a long term undertaking. Public education and community engagement are important as we need to continue to (a) ensure understanding of how Singapore may be directly affected by sea level rise, the options available and the trade-offs involved and (b) build inclusivity in coastal protection planning and (c) garner public support on the protection measures to be implemented subsequently.

For public education, we have developed varied content formats through multi-channel touchpoints to sustain and capture audience interest and create visual impact of sea level rise on Singapore. These helped to deepen the public’s understanding, as well as generate conversations and active participation as PUB engages various stakeholders to build inclusivity on the topic.

We have also initiated public engagement sessions, called “Our Coastal Conversations”, in tandem with our site-specific studies, to hear about the community’s aspirations about our coastal spaces and seek their views on the potential coastal protection measures that we are studying at segments of the coastline. At the Conversations, we heard many participants sharing a common desire to protect our cherished coastal areas and enhance our coastal community spaces with innovative design and solutions. Their feedback and ideas for a multi-functional coastline are crucial in shaping the coastal adaptation plans that are being developed.

CWR: One project to protect the East Coast of Singapore called “Long Island” has garnered a lot of attention. Can you outline the project, the benefits and any potential challenges?

SH: ‘Long Island’ offers an integrated solution that will meet multiple national needs, including coastal protection, flood resilience, water security, creating more land to meet future development needs, and new recreational opportunities for the East Coast.

Long Island offers an integrated solution that will meet multiple national needs…

…the reclaimed land will be elevated to form a continuous coastal defense & create a new reservoir

The reclaimed land at ‘Long Island’ will be elevated to form a continuous coastal defense against rising sea levels. The existing outlet drains along the coastline will discharge into a newly constructed reservoir, equipped with centralised tidal gates and pumping stations akin to those at the Marina Barrage. These facilities will prevent seawater from entering during high tides and manage stormwater discharge into the sea during heavy rainfall. Additionally, the reservoir will provide a new source of water supply, bolstering Singapore’s water resilience.

Beyond protecting the East Coast from sea level rise, ‘Long Island’ will also offer exciting opportunities and cater to the needs and aspirations of future generations of Singaporeans. Approximately 20 kilometers of new coastal and waterfront parks could potentially be integrated with the existing East Coast Park, effectively tripling the length of waterfront parks in the vicinity. These new green and blue spaces can be harmoniously combined with recreational areas, waterfront living concepts, and nature-based solutions, to create multi-functional and climate-resilient spaces for homes, recreation, and nature.

Long Island is expected to take a few decades to plan, design & implement

‘Long Island’ is projected to be approximately twice the size of Marina Bay in terms of land area and is expected to take a few decades to plan, design and implement. With this project being a major undertaking, technical and engineering challenges of ‘Long Island’ will have to be considered while balancing the potential environmental impact and concerns from local communities and environmental groups. Technical studies will commence in 2024, conducted by relevant agencies to examine the potential trade-offs of reclamation as well as the opportunities, such as hybrid nature-based solutions, that it could bring to guide the future development of ‘Long Island’.

CWR: Are there other coastal protection or flood resilience projects that you can share? Is PUB implementing any nature-based solutions?

SH: A good example of PUB’s approach in implementing blue-green infrastructure to enhance flood resilience would be Alkaff Lake, a new drainage infrastructure project. It is a stormwater retention pond integrated within a park to enhance flood protection for the housing estate of Bidadari, as we were unable to expand the downstream drainage system due to space constraints. During heavy rainfall, the lake provides additional capacity by retaining stormwater runoff from the surrounding areas, thus reducing peak flow into the downstream drains. In dry weather, it functions as a community and recreation area for residents of the estate.

PUB & its partner agencies are carrying out site-specific studies…

…to develop customized, & if possible, multi-functional & hybrid solutions with nature-based elements

To safeguard Singapore’s coastline which spans over 300km, PUB and our partner agencies such as JTC Corporation are progressively carrying out site-specific studies. These studies aim to develop customised solutions that are tailored to the unique features of our diverse coastal areas. Studies for the City-East Coast stretch, the north-west coast and Jurong Island are ongoing. Where possible, measures will incorporate multi-functionality and be co-located with existing or future amenities and recreational spaces. PUB will also explore hybrid solutions which could include nature-based elements. An example of a hybrid solution would be the use of mangroves or vegetation in front of coastal dikes to help with the dissipation of wave energy at the coastline.

CWR: What are the top 3 priorities or next steps for PUB going forward to protect Singapore against sea level rise?

SH:

(1) Promote collective effort: To ensure effective implementation of new coastal protection infrastructure, we are putting in place the legislation that will delineate the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, safeguard land for coastal protection measures and future upgrades to cater for uncertainties in climate projections, as well as ensure that PUB’s coastal protection standards (e.g. minimum height requirements) are met. We are also developing a new Code of Practice to guide the industry on the planning, design, and construction of coastal protection infrastructure.

(2) Build capabilities: Through the $125 million Coastal Protection and Flood Management Research Programme (CFRP) launched in 2023, we aim to advance knowledge in coastal and flood resilience, as well as spur the growth of a vibrant research and development (R&D) ecosystem for coastal and flood resilience in Singapore.

Building capacities on multiple fronts – launched the Coastal Protection and Flood Resilience Institute, graduate certifications in coastal protection & more

We also launched the Coastal Protection and Flood Resilience Institute (CFI) Singapore, a multi-institutional centre of excellence that brings together the strengths of our local universities, research institutes as well as the industry. One of its key objectives is the development of innovative coastal and flood protection solutions. To date, 17 research projects are undertaken by CFI Singapore with its partner institutes, and the first Applied Research grant call is open until 6 August. We look forward to receiving innovative proposals that addresses our challenge statements and collaboration with industry partners. Today, programmes like the National University of Singapore’s graduate certificate in coastal protection and flood management and Nanyang Technological University’s undergraduate specialisation in coastal protection provide pathways for talent development. Our next step is to develop professional courses to further build capability of the industry.

(3) Cultivate community resilience: We need our community to be prepared and to play their part to be flood ready. While the investments committed to drainage and coastal infrastructure have been substantial and are crucial in mitigating flood risk, it is not practical for Singapore to be completely flood-proof due to climate change. Because of our land constraints, it would not be feasible to build our infrastructure to cater for the most extreme inland or coastal flood event.

Our community must be flood-ready

The public are encouraged to subscribe to the various channels where they can receive alerts on flash floods during heavy rainfall, while PUB also engages residents and businesses in low-lying or flood-prone areas to provide portable flood barriers that can be set up quickly.

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