Water Price Increase in Singapore Implemented: Its Impact and What We Can Do About It

As of July 1, 2018, the second phase of the 30% water price increase mentioned in the Singapore Budget 2017 has been fully implemented. This is the first time that the price of water has been increased in 17 years and includes taxes well. What does this mean for the average Singaporean family? We’ll break it down for you and provide 5 water saving tips to help you and your family deal with this increase.

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored in any way by PUB. We are writing this article to allow you to make smarter lifestyle decisions and save money.

Water Price Increase For Households

According to The Straits Times, this is how much water for households currently costs. If you keep your household’s consumption below 0-40 m3 a month the price increase is capped at 30%. However, if you consume more than 40 m3 a month, the increase is actually higher at 38%. This increase is geared towards discouraging water wastage. Accordingly, the government has been giving out subsidies to soften the impact of this increase. It is estimated that the increase will cost less than $18 a month for 75% of households while subsidies will bring this amount down to $12 a month. Households that live in one or two-room flats will also receive further subsidies in U-Save rebates which are detailed here.

Additionally, it is estimated that business will have their water bill increased by $25 a month. As it is too early to tell, we cannot confirm if businesses will pass on this cost to the consumers.

Quick Maths

For the majority of households that live in HDB flats, the increase is minimal. According to numbers provided by PUB, the average per capita household consumption of water is 143 liters per day. This means on average, a person consumes 4.29 m3 of water per month. For most households, this might not be a problem as most households will consume less than 40 m3 a month. Regardless, if you would like to save the money on your utility bill here are 5 easy water-saving tips you can implement that will not require large lifestyle changes.

Water Saving Hacks

1. Hack Your Flush

The first hack is rather simple to do, and it took me about 5 mins. First, you’ll need to find a container and fill it up with water or something denser (e.g. Sand) if the container cannot stand up in your toilet bowl’s tank. Place the container into the tank and close it up. As the container has volume, less water will fill up in the tank. An average flush will use up around 13.6 liters. Dependent on the volume of the container, this might save a rather substantial amount of water per flush for your liquid waste.

2. Check for leaks

With the help of food coloring that you can have delivered to your doorstep from Redmart – you can easily check if your toilet bowl is leaking. Simply drop a few drops of food coloring into the toilet bowl tank. If your toilet bowl water turns red in this case, it means that your toilet bowl leaking. This applies to sinks, faucets, pipes and shower heads as well. Get the leaks fixed as soon as possible as it will cause water wastage that adds up.

3. Wash Your Fruits, Vegetables or Dishes in a Container

Washing your produce or dishes under running water will use about 18 liters per wash. You can greatly reduce the amount of water used when you use this method. In addition, you can use the water from washing vegetables or fruit to water your plants. Although this may seem a bit troublesome, doing this will help save on your water bill.

4. Using a Cup to Brush Your Teeth

Brushing your teeth with running water actually uses an estimated 2.8 liters a day. Leaving the tap running while you brush your teeth uses up copious amounts of water. Adding a cup to your sink will greatly reduce the amount of water used. Furthermore, according to dentist Dr. Phil Stemmer, from The Fresh Breath Centre in London, “Rinsing washes away the protective fluoride coating left by the toothpaste, which would otherwise add hours of protection.” What you should do instead is to spit out the toothpaste and not rinse.

5. Get Your Free Water Saving Kit from PUB

You’re reading this right. PUB is giving out free water saving kits. Each kit has a set of standardized thimbles that can be fitted onto taps and showerheads. Plus, thimbles have either 3 or 4 holes that allow you to control the water flow rates. You can get up to 3 water saving kits which contain 4 thimbles for taps and 2 thimbles for showerheads here. The kit also comes with cute water wally stickers that remind you of good water saving habits.

Now that you’ve gone through this list, I hope that you will be able to save more on your water. Let us know in the comments if you have any other water saving tips you would like to share!

Featured Image from Ashley Lim on Flickr.com