Singapore Watermark Awards 2026 - Ms Goh Hanyan

1. Good morning, I am delighted to join you today at the biennial Singapore Watermark Awards 2026 ceremony, to recognise organisations that have made outstanding contributions to Singapore’s water sustainability journey.

Singapore’s Water Reality

2. As a city-state with limited natural water resources, Singapore has always had to plan meticulously to secure a sustainable and resilient water supply. Every drop that flows from our taps today is the result of decades of innovation and collective effort.

3. But we cannot take our water security for granted. As our population and economy grow, Singapore’s water demand is projected to almost double by 2065 from today’s levels.

4. At the same time, climate change threatens to compound this challenge with longer dry spells, increasing our reliance on our weather-resilient, but more energy-intensive, water sources of NEWater and desalinated water. Managing water demand, instead of solely increasing supply, is therefore an important strategy to strengthen Singapore’s water resilience and support our continued growth.

5. This is also an important part of our broader climate adaptation efforts. 2026 is the Year of Climate Adaptation, and we are developing Singapore's first National Adaptation Plan, or NAP. Water resilience is an important focus area of our NAP, and everyone can play their part – at work, in school and at home. As amplified through PUB’s water conservation campaign and Singapore World Water Day this year – “It’s Everyone’s Business to Make Every Drop Count”.

Why the Non-Domestic Sector Matters

6. And for our businesses, industries and institutions, making every drop count is especially important. As Singapore’s economy grows, the non-domestic sector is expected to be a key driver of future water demand growth.

7. They will therefore have an increasingly critical role to play in Singapore’s water sustainability journey. When organisations across sectors act together, even small improvements can add up to substantial water savings.

8. Many leading organisations already show that good water stewardship makes good business sense. Beyond lowering business costs and providing environmental benefits, water efficiency also strengthens business resilience. By reducing the amount of water they need, organisations can reduce their exposure to future pressures on water supply and costs.

Celebrating Leadership through SWMA

9. Today, we honour 37 organisations across three award categories: Singapore Watermark Awards, Water Efficiency Awards and Water Efficiency Awards (Projects).

10. This year, four organisations, selected from 33 nominations, will receive the Singapore Watermark Award.

11. This is PUB’s pinnacle award for organisations that demonstrate exceptional performance in water efficiency as well as outstanding contributions in advocacy and innovation. I am pleased to note that these organisations have also achieved several firsts with this Award.

12. Amazon Web Services, or AWS, Singapore, is the first organisation to receive all three awards. They are also a repeat recipient after winning their first Singapore Watermark Award in 2024.

13. AWS Singapore partnered PUB closely in advancing water sustainability. For example, as a Thematic Sponsor for the 2024 edition of the Singapore International Water Week, or SIWW, AWS hosted workshops and shared industry best practices. They have also promoted water-conscious behaviours through their contributions as a long-term partner of Singapore World Water Day and founding sponsor of the SG Water Saver Programme.

14. AWS has matched its advocacy with innovation in its operations. AWS actively works with local startups to develop, pilot and scale water efficiency technology, which has allowed AWS to improve its water usage effectiveness from 1.87 to 1.68 cubic metres per megawatt hour between 2023 and 2024. That’s a 10 percent reduction in the amount of water used to cool its data centre equipment!

15. Our second recipient, National University Health System, or NUHS, is the first organisation from Singapore’s healthcare sector to receive the award. NUHS has shown that healthcare institutions can apply circular economy principles to achieve significant water savings without compromising patient safety or operational reliability.

16. At Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, one of the hospitals under the NUHS cluster, reverse osmosis, or RO, is used to purify water for dialysis treatment.

17. This process produces reject water that would otherwise be discharged as waste. Instead, the hospital found a way to give this water a second life – by recovering it for landscape irrigation. By capturing and repurposing 70 percent of the reject water from dialysis RO, the hospital has reduced its water consumption for irrigation by about 9,000 cubic metres each year. That is enough to meet the water needs of around 60 four-room HDB households for an entire year!

18. In addition, NUHS has advanced water sustainability across the healthcare sector through initiatives such as the inaugural annual National Healthcare Sustainability Symposium and its Certificate in Healthcare Sustainability programme.

19. Our third recipient is the Institute of Technical Education, or ITE, which marks the first time an entire cluster of campuses has received the Singapore Watermark Award. This recognises ITE’s institution-wide commitment to water efficiency, which extends across its campuses and operations, as well as through education, innovation and community engagement.

20. Water sustainability is embedded into students’ experiential learning. For example, through the Flush Saver Cistern project, ITE reached out to 77 HDB households in Choa Chu Kang and Yew Tee. They installed cistern bags that reduce the water used for each flush, giving households a simple way to reap water savings!

21. ITE also nurtures water sustainability among students through outreach initiatives such as Project Blue WaVE Kayak 'N' Klean, where students collected floating debris, deepening their appreciation of water ecosystems.

22. Last but not least, our final recipient is Micron Technology. Water sustainability is a philosophy woven into Micron's facility design and daily operations. 98 percent of water used in their operations comes from NEWater, while in-house advanced recycling systems recover and reuse used water across their facilities.

23. Beyond operational excellence, Micron recognises that water stewardship is a shared responsibility. Through meaningful community outreach such as eco-walks and employee-led engagement programmes, Micron helps raise public awareness of water conservation and sustainable resource management.

24. Alongside our Singapore Watermark Award winners, we also celebrate 34 Water Efficiency Award recipients for strong water efficiency performance in their respective sectors. We also recognise four recipients of the Water Efficiency Awards (Projects) for innovative projects that delivered improvements in water efficiency.

Supporting Water-Intensive Sectors Through Innovation

25. Beyond what individual companies can achieve, PUB is strengthening partnerships across the water ecosystem to accelerate innovation in industrial water management. At SIWW in June, we announced an initial S$12 million in funding under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2030 Plan to support R&D in Industrial Water Solutions. We also established two Industrial Water Solutions Innovation Ecosystem Alliances.  

26. The alliances focus on two priority sectors that are more water-intensive – wafer fabrication and data centres. By bringing together research institutes, technology providers and industry end-users, these alliances will co-develop industrial water solutions and accelerate their deployment.   

27. Since their launch, two anchor research partners have been selected: the Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation Centre, or START Centre, and the Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed, or STDCT. Together with their respective alliance partners, they will pilot and scale innovative water solutions, accelerate their adoption, and strengthen local capabilities.  

28. For the wafer fabrication sector, START will partner wafer fabs and solution providers to increase water recycling, treat complex effluents and recover valuable resources. For the data centre sector, STDCT will bring together operators and solution providers to validate water-saving cooling technologies under tropical conditions and set new benchmarks for water- and energy-efficient data centre cooling.

29. Through these partnerships, we hope to enable businesses to innovate and make every drop of water count for more.

Conclusion

30. As this year’s winners have shown, there is much potential when organisations make water efficiency and water advocacy a priority. As Singapore continues to strengthen our water resilience, we need more organisations to step forward – to innovate, invest and lead. PUB will continue to partner businesses on this journey, so that water efficiency becomes an integral part of how we operate, invest and grow.

31. Building climate resilience is also a shared responsibility. As we develop Singapore’s first NAP, I encourage everyone to play a part by sharing your ideas through our ongoing National Adaptation Conversations and our online feedback portal.

32. To all our award recipients, my heartfelt congratulations. These awards are a recognition of the leadership that you have shown in making deliberate choices to innovate, invest and build resilience for the future.

33. Thank you for leading by example. Your achievements raise the bar for your respective sectors and show that sustainability and business excellence can go hand in hand.