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  Channel NewsAsia 16 Jan 06
 Water conservation tax to stay: Environment Minister
 By Hasnita A Majid

SINGAPORE : The Environment and Water Resources Minister says the water conservation tax will not be abolished. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim told parliament that this is to send a signal to Singaporeans that water is still a scarce resource and has to be used wisely.

The water conservation tax is benchmarked against desalinated water, which is the next available source of drinking water, and not NeWater, which is primarily used as non-portable water for industries.

Most households are charged $1.52 per cubic metre which is the approximate cost of producing desalinated water.

But Dr Yaacob says his ministry will continue to review the situation and revise the water conservation tax if need be. He was responding to MPs who wanted to know why this is not done, given that Singapore now has four national taps for water.

"We cannot assume that now we have NeWater, we can do away with the water conservation tax. The message to Singaporeans is that yes, we have four national taps to provide diversified sources of water but that does not mean that we can now throw a liberal approach and use water without conservation," said Dr Yaacob. - CNA /ls
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