Built across the mouth of Marina Channel, Marina Barrage (MB) creates Singapore’s 15th reservoir, and the first in the heart of the city.

With a catchment area of 10,000 hectares, Marina catchment is the island’s largest and most urbanised catchment. Together with two other reservoirs, Marina Reservoir has increased Singapore’s water catchment from half to two-thirds of the country’s land area.

Marina Barrage is the vision of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew (the first Prime Minister of Singapore) more than three decades ago when he envisaged damming the mouth of the Marina Channel to create a freshwater reservoir.

Watch video "Marina Barrage: A Singapore Success Story" >>

Marina Barrage, a project commissioned by PUB, was officially opened on 31 Oct 2008 by Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore's Prime Minister. 

Desalting started in April 2009 through natural replacement by rainwater. On 20 November 2010, Marina Reservoir was commissioned by the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew as a freshwater reservoir, augmenting Singapore’s water supply for generations to come.

Marina Barrage brings about three benefits: a source of water supply, flood control and a venue for lifestyle attraction.

Water Supply



Marina Barrage is a dam built across the 350-metre wide Marina Channel to keep out seawater, creating the 15^th reservoir in downtown Singapore. Water from Local Catchment is one of the Four National Taps, with the other three being imported water, NEWater and desalinated water.

Flood Control



Marina Barrage is part of a comprehensive flood control scheme to alleviate flooding in the low-lying areas in the city such as Chinatown, Boat Quay, Jalan Besar and Geylang. During heavy rain, the series of nine crest gates at the dam are activated to release excess stormwater into the sea when the tide is low. In the case of high tide, giant pumps can drain excess stormwater into the sea.

Lifestyle Attraction



Unaffected by tides, water level in Marina Reservoir is kept constant all year round. This is ideal for all kinds of recreational activities such as boating, kayaking and dragonboating.