Every day after his morning run, Adam Reutens-Tan washes under a half-full camping shower hooked on the ceiling of his bathroom.
The modified shower, which uses just four litres of water, is one of several ways the Reutens-Tans family conserve water as part of a countrywide push to cut Singapore’s daily consumption by 8% by 2030.
The nation currently uses 141 litres per person each day – about enough for two typical eight-minute U.S. showers, according to Harvard University statistics.
Singapore, a steamy, low-lying island city-state, is the fifth most likely country in the world to face extremely high water stress by 2040, according to the U.S.-based World Resources Institute.
And it is hardly alone.
U.N. data shows 2 billion people – a quarter of the world’s population – now use water much faster than the planet can replenish natural sources, such as groundwater.
Singapore gets about half of its water from neighbouring Malaysia, according to local water experts, importing supplies from the Johor River under deals dating back to 1927.
But the current import agreement is due to expire in 2061 – and the price Singapore pays for Malaysian water has been a source of friction between the neighbours for years.
Singapore buys river water from Malaysia for 3 sen – less than a tenth of a U.S. cent – per 1,000 gallons, then treats it and sells some of it back to Malaysia’s Johor state at 50 sen per 1,000 gallons.
Malaysia’s prime minister has called the price Singapore pays to import Malaysian water “ridiculous”.
