Singapore's Four National Taps refer to the 4 sources of water supply, i.e. (1) Local Catchment, (2) Imported Water (from Johor), (3) NEWater and (4) Desalinated Water.

The first 'tap' refers to the supply from our local water catchments and reservoirs.

The second 'tap' refers to the import of water from Malaysia under the 1962 water agreement.

Our third 'tap' NEWater, leverages on a 3-stage process of ultra-filtration/ micro filtration, reverse osmosis and ultra violet radiation to reclaim water from our used water effluent.

Our fourth 'tap' is seawater desalination through which freshwater is obtained by desalting seawater through the reverse osmosis process.

The Four National Taps help to diversify our sources of water to ensure a reliable and resilient water supply.

Singapore's current per capita domestic water consumption is about 154 litres per day. Notwithstanding, PUB has rolled out a series of demand management initiatives, such as the Water Efficient Homes programme and the 10-Litre challenge initiatives to further reduce per capita water consumption. Our long term target is to bring down our daily per capita domestic water consumption to 147 litres by 2020, and 140 litres by 2030.

With the completion of Punggol and Serangoon Reservoirs in 2011, and Marina Reservoir which was completed in November 2010, our water catchment has increased to two-thirds of Singapore's land area.

The ABC Waters Programme is part of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's vision to remake Singapore into a vibrant and dynamic home and a "City of Gardens and Water". The remaking of our catchments and waterways will create new opportunities for Singaporeans to mingle and interact and, at the same time, be closer to water and nature.

The Programme aims to create a seamless network of blue and green, and integrate this with adjacent land developments. Private developers will also be encouraged to convert the spaces around the waterways into recreational and commercial areas with amenities. This will optimise our land use, by encouraging new lifestyle activities and attractions to flourish in the waters and surrounding land.

Beyond aesthetics, the Programme will create opportunities for the 3P sectors to come forward and participate in taking ownership of the facilities and our waters and generate interest among school students in our environment etc.. Through these, we hope that the public, private and people will develop a relationship with water and sense of shared ownership towards our water resources.

NEWater is primarily supplied to wafer fabrication, electronics and power generation industries for process use as well as commercial and institutional complexes for air-con cooling purposes.

A small amount of NEWater is also put through a "naturalization" process in the raw water reservoirs before processing it in waterworks for potable use.