Amendments to the Public Utilities Act 2001

Singapore, 3 August 2023 – National Water Agency, PUB is proposing amendments to the Public Utilities Act 2001 to allow PUB to effectively manage water demand and ensure water supply resilience to meet the long-term needs of our population and economy.

2. The amendments are in three key areas:
a) Introduce mandatory water efficiency requirements for industrial large water users to ensure sustainable growth in water demand.
b) Introduce charges to large private water suppliers to ensure sustainable growth of Singapore’s private water supply and overall water resilience.
c) Technical amendments to enhance PUB's operation

Raising water efficiency in the non-domestic sector

3. Singapore’s current water demand is about 440 million gallons per day, which is expected to almost double by 2065, in tandem with economic and population growth. The non-domestic sector will be the major source of water demand growth, and projected to increase from the current half, to about two-thirds of total water demand.

4. PUB will introduce water recycling requirements for the wafer fabrication (WF), electronics and biomedical industries from 1 January 2024. These industries are water-intensive, accounting for almost one-fifth of the total non-domestic water demand, and also have high potential for water recycling. Recycling requirements will apply to new projects (including expansion of existing plants), that consume at least 60,000m3 of water annually (Annex A).

Introducing charges to large private water suppliers (PWS)

5. In recent years, more entities have sought PUB’s approval to collect rainwater or to extract and treat seawater on a large scale. These are private water suppliers (PWS) comprising rainwater harvesters and private desalination plants that have received approval to construct works for the abstraction of water for their own use or for sale.

6. Growing expansion in the number

and scale of PWS will have an impact on Singapore’s water system and our overall water resilience as PUB will need to develop and maintain sufficient reserve capacity in case of any disruptions or cessation of supply faced by PWS. PUB must also develop and maintain sufficient capacity to treat used water from PWS and/or their customers.

7. To ensure the sustainable growth of private supply of water and hence our water supply resilience, PUB will introduce the Waterborne Tax (WBT) and Water Conservation Tax (WCT)¹ on large PWS. This will align the treatment of privately supplied water with the existing charging principles for PUB-supplied water. With these changes, the same principles of water conservation and contribution to national used water system will be applied consistently on almost all water users:

a)WBT will be imposed on the volume of water supplied by private desalination plants and large rainwater harvesters for their own use or for sale.²
b)WCT will only be imposed on the volume of water supplied for sale by private desalination plants.
c)The charges will not be applied to small scale rainwater harvesters such as those in HDB estates, community clubs or schools

8. The charges will be introduced from early 2025 in two phases, starting with 50% of the prevailing WBT and WCT rates in 2025. The full prevailing rates will apply from 2026.This will provide transition time for PWS to adjust to the changes.

Technical amendments to enhance PUB’s operations

9. The Act will also be amended to provide PUB with the essential powers to enhance its operations so as to allow PUB to more effectively and efficiently fulfill its mission of safeguarding our water security and ensuring a safe and reliable supply of water for all.

Footnotes:

[1] WBT is a tax contribution to our national used water system paid by all users, regardless of whether the premises are connected to PUB's used water network. WCT is imposed to encourage water conservation and reflect the scarcity value of water.
[2] Large rainwater harvesters are defined as those with tank sizes larger than 350m^3.

Annex A: Industries and Projects subject to the Mandatory Recycling Requirements

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