Investing in collaborative, innovative efforts that work towards achieving water security for all is the best way to address this dangerous crisis head-on as for many, it is now a matter of survival. In aiming to future-proof and ensure the sustainability of water sources across all nations, a global dialog is needed, where leaders and industry experts can exchange best practices on technology-driven solutions and effective governance.

Events like the Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) help facilitate these discussions. This year’s SIWW was a fully virtual event that took place over two weeks, from June 21 to July 2. ArchTam had a strong presence at this year’s event, which saw thousands of participants from around the world coming together to share and co-create innovative solutions to meet the world’s most pressing water challenges.

While leaders and experts from our Water business line engaged in events throughout the week, two of these events were led by ArchTam team members – “Riding the Wave: Ensuring Security Against Climate Uncertainties,” an engaging panel discussion in which I moderated that focused on insights and strategic responses to safeguarding urban water systems; and “Rising Above: Integrated Adaptive Pathways for Urban Environments,” an informative, all-women session on innovation in practice held by executive director Dr. Kuang Ping Chiu.

Below are some key discussion points from these two sessions.

Key actions toward ending water shortage

Three primary ways to address water shortage were highlighted during these discussions:

• Instating persistent demand reduction, which calls for the need to track the trend of water usage.
• Strengthening resilient water technologies by analyzing where areas of high population stand in terms of existing resources, and by building new means with industries as technology-enabled structure requires industry collaboration and by recycling.
• Decarbonizing water by reducing energy use in water treatment and conveyance.

By keeping a conscious focus on these three areas, we can radically restructure all forms of water consumption and prevent the current scarcity from worsening.

Our personal lifestyle choices make an impact on water security.

An action that can be taken to alleviate and deescalate the water crisis is to conserve water on an operational level. This requires society as a whole to examine how water is used and create strategies that focus on reducing wastage, preventing damage to water quality, and improving overall water management. For example, the water footprint of a standard smartphone is around 13,000 liters, or approximately 130 bathtubs [2,3]. This is the amount of water it takes to produce all the parts of the phone, including the microchip, glass, plastic, and metal, and much of that water is drinkable. Reexamining how we operate in creating and producing products could have a substantial impact on maintaining a secure water supply.

Increasing population, urbanization and high living standards.

By 2050, 68% of the world population is projected to live in urban areas [4]. This increase in urbanization is not a negative thing, but it will make significant impacts on the ecological environment that can lead to the lack of access to safe water and sanitation, and an increase water-related disasters such as floods and droughts. The challenge is how to undertake sustainable development without causing damage to the natural environment, e.g., avoiding crucial issues leading to the rapid deterioration and degradation of the water quality in the water supply intake points. Reuse and recycle should be a part of this focus in dealing with the water scarcity issues as well as investing in key technology and infrastructure. This comes with enacting the right policies and regulations to keep up with future needs. The layout of a plan should cover 100 years or more to ensure water sustainability for future generations.

Innovating for sustainability

When it comes to innovation, the willingness to embrace change and collaboration for a sustainable future must be present. Change requires more than just the technical innovation – it also includes evolving business models, governance structures, triggers and integrating general change management practices. During “Rising Above: Integrated Adaptive Pathways for Urban Environments,” Dr. Kuang Ping Chiu discussed how public sector agencies such as the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Sydney Water responded to climate challenges and adopted innovative solutions to solve serious water challenges. While these two major metropolitan areas experience different effects of climate change, both have proactive policies to deal with the immediate impact to citizens, the urban fabric, and natural systems.

Sustainability believes in the proper use of resources without exhausting them for future generations. The changing climate conditions and limited resources available to us demand more efficient water systems than what we currently have. Efficient water management requires a holistic approach in which different stakeholders – policy makers, scientists, industry leaders, engineers, academicians and water management professionals – come together to engage in conversations and deliberations on how to leverage innovation to safeguard urban water systems against the effects of climate uncertainties; and how future infrastructure systems can build resilience to extreme weather events while enhancing resource efficiency.

These conversations exemplify the role of resilient water infrastructure as a critical building block for worldwide sustainable development, including the fast-urbanizing Asia region. Developing efficient and inclusive water supplies and future-proofing coastal infrastructure that lasts generations is not a one-time effort, but a continuing endeavor we must address through dialog and collaboration that will lead to effective action.

[1]https://www.unwater.org/app/uploads/2021/07/SDG6_indicators_summary_progress_2021.png
[2] https://www.watercalculator.org/footprint/the-hidden-water-in-everyday-products/
[3] https://qz.com/1396289/your-water-footprint-is-just-as-important-as-your-carbon-footprint/
[4] https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html

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Dr. Robin Sham leads the ArchTam Long Span Bridge Group and is based in Hong Kong. With a career that spans over three decades and several continents, he has worked on many of the world’s record-breaking cable-stayed and suspension bridge projects.

For his notable contributions to the civil engineering profession, he has been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, recognized by the UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) as an engineering superhero and Gold Medalist, and named by the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania as one of the greatest bridge engineers of the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

Elements of his genius can be seen in his design of a 31-metre Guinness World Record-breaking suspension bridge made entirely of LEGO® bricks. The structure was the centerpiece of an ICE exhibition celebrating civil engineers who have created some of the world’s greatest bridges.

What inspired you to join the industry? Ever since my childhood, I have been fascinated by bridges. A yearning to create artifacts that are physical and tangible inspired me to become a civil engineer. I perceived bridges as a metaphor for overcoming obstacles and resolving conflicts, and as structures for connecting people and places. I was determined to realize the physical and emotional power of bridges to connect people and drive the growth and development of countries. My desire to create new types of bridges, spanning larger distances more efficiently than ever before led me to embark on a mission of fact finding and path finding to make myself a bridge engineer. The experience in my early pursuits was enriched when I delved into the research of artificial intelligence in bridge design. That gave me a glimpse of the creative thought processes in a designer’s mind, which was to shape my ensuing career.

Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community. The civil engineering industry is constantly evolving and we now have access to technology that enables us to build structures in topographies and environments that were once unthinkable – places where waterways were ‘too wide to be crossed’, winds ‘too strong for construction’, soil-types ‘impossible to build on,’ and severe earthquakes would deter construction.

The achievements of the ArchTam Long Span Bridge Group are deep in history. We pioneered the creation of third generation suspension bridges to attain aerodynamic stability in typhoon winds at speeds in the realm of 100m/s (Tsing Lung Bridge); we spearheaded the sciences of construction engineering with the first attempt in history to construct cable-stayed bridges with main spans exceeding 1km (Sutong and Stonecutters Bridges) at a time when such a human endeavor was technologically uncharted; and we created seismic-resilient and scour-tolerant designs for disaster prevention and economic expansion (Second Penang and Padma Bridges). At present, our team is working on the Gordie Howe International Bridge, the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America, which will become a strategic border crossing between the US and Canada; and on the 22km-long Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, the longest sea link in India, which will bring economic expansion and relieve traffic congestion for the region.

What is the favorite ArchTam project that you’ve worked on and why? I am privileged to have worked on practically all of our long span bridge projects, which are some of the world’s longest and most magnificent. Our team relentlessly reimagines its designs and reinvents its strategies. My current favorite is a combination of two landmark projects forming a family of monumental bridges – the Cross Bay Link and the Southern Bridge, currently under construction in Hong Kong and expected to be completed in 2022.

The Cross Bay Link is a 1.8km-long sea link carrying a highway, a footpath, a cycle track, flower pots/planters and viewing platforms. When the cycle track comes off the sea link, it forms a 5km-long loop across the landscape and finally returning to the Bridge. The center piece of the Cross Bay Link is the Eternity Arch, a 400m-long orthotropic steel arch bridge. When viewed from the shores, the arch bridge is designed to appear as the mathematical symbol of infinity. It is all part of our design to deliver a sea link for multimodal transport and multipurpose leisure activities.

Our design for its pedestrian counterpart, the Southern Bridge, presents a single arch rib spanning diagonally above a 110m-main span curved deck girder. As the pedestrians walk through the curved bridge, they will be treated to gorgeous shifting views of the structure and the neighboring bridge. The project will regenerate a former refuse disposal ground and promote leisure activities and water sports. The erection of the Southern Bridge is expected in late 2021 – early 2022.

What career advice would you like to share? The key is teamwork — as personified in the Liverpool Football Club anthem, “You’ll never walk alone”.

A career in civil engineering offers the challenge of “directing the great resources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man,” as said by Thomas Tredgold. There is also, I find, a triumphant sense of accomplishment in delivering a project. What other career can offer this?

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Singapore is considered to be one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. They are heavily dependent on rainfall due to a lack of natural water resources, while the scarcity of land limits their ability to store it in large quantities. But as climate change continues to affect the region, higher temperatures and drier weather has created even further issues for maintaining a healthy and accessible water supply.

In their continuous mission to strengthen water supply resilience, Singapore has built the world’s first large scale dual-mode desalination plant, the Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant (KMEDP). To meet the increasing needs of the region most efficiently, KMEDP has the capacity to treat both freshwater and seawater. Capable of producing up to 36 million gallons (137,000 cubic meters) of fresh drinking water a day over a period of 25 years, KMEDP is crucial to providing Singapore with a reliable and sustainable source of clean water.

ArchTam was appointed as the project engineer by Keppel Infrastructure to provide innovative solutions for overcoming the design, construction and control challenges around KMEDP. We provided process and mechanical design, testing and commissioning services, and the development of a 3D model of the proposed plant. We also created a virtual model of the KMEDP to give the client a more holistic view of the plant during construction stage and the potential for future operation and maintenance.

Located in the Marina East area of Singapore, the KMEDP is within close proximity to both the urban catchment Marina Bay reservoir and the Singapore Strait, leading to the Indian Ocean. As a world’s first, the plant is fully fitted with dual water intake, pulling water from both sources to accommodate water shortages in the area’s reservoir

Our engineering design uses a dual flow chamber link to two water source intakes. The water passes through a pre-treatment process using flocculation and dissolved air flotation, followed by ultrafiltration from a two-pass reverse osmosis system, and post-treatment using ultraviolet disinfection.

This resilient design is more energy efficient compared to a typical desalination plant since fresh water utilizes less energy than seawater during the desalination process. In addition, KMEDP also implements other features for optimized energy efficiency, such as direct coupling and permeate split.

Governed by our good design and engineering excellence, the KMEDP breaks away from conventional treatment plants. It sits against the backdrop of Singapore’s Central Business District skyline and features 215,000 square foot (20,000 square meter) of open green space on the rooftop for community recreation as well as a viewing gallery for observing the treatment process. It was also developed with environment-friendly features such as rainwater harvesting, where rainwater is collected and used to irrigate the green roof and support the facility’s water features and landscaping needs.

As climate change and other factors continue to impact conditions in communities around the world, it’s important to keep a forward-thinking approach when it comes to leveraging our resources. Innovation like KMEDP can keep the water running in areas that are heavily stricken by scarcities while providing hope that infrastructure opportunities will continue to succeed in changing the outcomes of the growing water crisis.

Photo courtesy of Keppel Corporation

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We were walking along a hiking trail on our day off when the ground started to shake violently. The shaking continued for nearly a minute and the shocks were so severe that we had to sit on the ground and wait for the worst to pass. What had been a possibility suddenly became a reality, and it was frightening. When the shaking finally stopped, we realized that we were caught in one of the most intense earthquakes the region had experienced in recorded history. Measuring at 7.8 on the Richter scale, the earthquake devastated years of development work and took the lives of thousands of residents in one of the most disadvantaged countries in Asia.

Even as the earthquake was still going on, we began to see dust clouds emerging from Kathmandu Valley. Was this a bad one? It sure felt like it, but we had no idea how bad the damage would be. However, it only took a few minutes to find out. First, we lost all signal on our cellphones, but luckily, we were able to get text messages out to our wives and colleagues before that happened. Then, as we started walking down the hill, we witnessed people sitting out in the open fields, terrified. Their houses seemed alright until we got closer.

Some houses had cracks that went from floor to ceiling, while portions of others had entirely collapsed; it would be impossible to live in them. As we got closer to the outskirts of Kathmandu, we began seeing the widespread damage.

The devastation was everywhere — from beautiful temples and many other buildings in ruins to the thousands of people dead or injured. In some areas, entire blocks had collapsed.

And while the damage was isolated in other areas, fortunately, some neighborhoods and buildings were still completely intact. We made it safely back to our hotel — which was still standing — thanks to our guide and driver. There, we talked to other guests who were quite shocked, and a few of them were covered in bandages. Even though the hotel building was fine, people still panicked and hurt themselves trying to get out during the earthquake; for instance, one of the guests jumped through a bay window and had severe cuts on both his arms and his face.

In the days that followed, we decided to cancel the workshop, and work closely with our client, the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, to ensure everyone involved on the project was safe. They also took us around the city to gain a closer perspective on the loss and damage sustained by the Nepalese people.

From high-rise commercial buildings to historic temples and palaces, the earthquake either badly damaged or destroyed so many buildings. People were living under tarps on road sides and in open spaces throughout the city.

There was an eerie feeling, but despite the destruction and stress, people remained calm and relatively positive. In fact, some of the prevention initiatives that the city had already implemented — such as executing the building code, creating open spaces and widening roads for emergency access to older neighborhoods — seemed to have worked to reduce the extent of the disaster.

Due to the airport being focused on accepting aid deliveries, it took more than a week for us to get home. Now that we have returned home, we are keeping in touch with our contacts in the region about how we can help with the reconstruction effort and long-term planning. ArchTam has also volunteered to match employee donations up to US$20,000 across its Asia-Pacific geography.

Guillaume Prudent-Richard is an ArchTam associate director, environment, and has been based in Canberra, Australia, for the last seven years. He has been working on disaster-risk management and climate-change adaptation since 2003 in the European Alps, Asia and Australia, as well as on small islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans. In his spare time, he enjoys skiing, mountain biking and hiking.
LinkedIn: Guillaume Prudent-Richard


Amit Prothi is a manager of sustainability planning in ArchTam’s planning, design and economics group. He has been engaged in all aspects of urban development for nearly 20 years, working in the U.S., and in remote countries such as Mauritania. Currently, Prothi is working on special projects for ArchTam (similar to the project in Kathmandu), while he pursues a Ph.D. in Urban Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently based in Hanoi, Vietnam, with his wife and two young children.
LinkedIn: Amit Prothi

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In September 2013, we entered an event called the Rickshaw Run, where we successfully drove 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) across India in a “7-horsepower glorified lawnmower,” or more commonly referred to as an Auto-Rickshaw or tuk tuk. We formed “The Brains Trust,” with the main objective of competing in the Rickshaw Run to raise awareness and funding for research into the debilitating neurological disorder called Dystonia. Helping Andrew’s mother, Lee, who is a Dystonia sufferer herself, was a key driver behind our willingness to complete the challenge. Over AU$11,000 was raised by The Brains Trust in 2013, and donated to The Brain Foundation.

After returning from India, our desire to help others was not quite satisfied. An opportunity arose to compete in another adventure, and this time we decided to pay forward our gratitude to the RYLA program. We set a goal to raise as much money as possible to sponsor young adults to attend the upcoming week-long RYLA seminar in January 2015.

The new adventure was called the Mototaxi Junket, where participants were required to travel up to 3,000 kilometers across Peru in an unreliable, underpowered Peruvian Lifan 150-cc mototaxi, or sofa-bike. Reforming under the name RIDE FOR RYLA, we had mixed success in completing our Peru challenge.

This time around, we weren’t so lucky with our vehicle. We were gifted a lemon, and it just couldn’t handle what we were asking of it. It was extremely slow and in attempting to make up for lost time, we had to drive at night down mountain passes in the pouring rain on roads with no guardrails and sheer drops into valleys below. We ended up accumulating rainwater in our fuel tank as the fuel cap didn’t seal properly. These are just some of the problems we had before we decided enough was enough. We also slept on someone’s garage floor one night as the town we finished up in had no available accommodation.

We managed to ride 5 days and approximately 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) across coastal desert, the Andes mountain range, and over the other side into the Amazon before having to transport our tired vehicle via truck close to the finish line due to constant mechanical issues.

Despite the Mototaxi Junket not going as well as we had hoped, the ultimate objective to sponsor youth to attend RYLA was achieved with enough funds raised to sponsor at least 21 young adults to attend RYLA at a cost of AU$500 per person. Before leaving for Peru, RIDE FOR RYLA had been guest speaking at over 20 Rotary Clubs in an attempt to raise the money and profile of the RYLA program, and we were fortunate enough to connect with and meet Rotarians in Lima, Peru.

ArchTam has invested in sponsoring at least two of its young Queensland graduates to attend RYLA, with hopefully more showing interest in attending.

Julian Buttigieg (Julian.Buttigieg@archtam.com) is an environmental scientist at ArchTam with 6 years of consulting experience. He works in the remediation, consulting and engineering practice in the Brisbane, Australia, office, primarily servicing client needs for water and soil contamination investigations.
LinkedIn: Julian Buttigieg
Facebook: RIDE FOR RYLA
Donate: RIDE FOR RYLA

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The project provided an opportunity to demonstrate our strengths while being involved in creating an important urban landmark for Malaysia — not just for today’s generation, but also for those in years to come. It was a chance to step forward with progressive and executable ideas. Potentially, the River of Life project will impact many lives positively and will bring enduring benefits to the city as a whole.

As the winning firm tasked to deliver the project, today, we have teams from Malaysia and Singapore working on this project — from the points of design, master planning, architecture, engineering, infrastructure, environment and economics — demonstrating cohesiveness in collaboration and passion for delivery excellence.

The works are progressing well and the team working on the River of Life project is a highly motivated bunch — motivated to do well for themselves, their team, the client, and the communities that will benefit from the project.

As director of the overall project, I often interact with team members of all levels. In our conversations, we also talk about what motivates them to succeed and deliver excellence.

What I keep hearing is that their involvement since the conceptual development stage of the project has increased their commitment to seeing the many unique pieces coming together and how each of the team members plays a role in making that happen. It is worth noting that the scale and complex nature of this project means different team members have unique views of the “big picture.”

For example, Mark Vergara, technical director, environment, who leads a group that oversees the environmental aspects, believes that the client’s trust in ArchTam makes him proud of the work we are doing and motivates him to challenge the norm. For instance, the client’s receptiveness to innovative ideas allows the team to take their creativity several notches above standard solutions for the design. Mark’s work in this process includes flood modelling, water sensitive urban design, biodiversity enhancement, habitat creation and sustainability.

The lead for signage and wayfinding, Giles Clement, associate, landscape design, design + planning, economics, looks forward to seeing how his work will be used by locals and visitors and how the community will benefit from them. He states that ArchTam’s wayfinding system, which covers the entire site, will be the most comprehensive ever found in the Malaysian capital. Designed with the community in mind, the system makes it easy for people to find their way around the river, a noteworthy achievement for the team.

Seetha Raghupathy, project manager for River of Life Urban Design Guidelines (Package 1A), believes the team’s work has enduring importance as what we are delivering addresses not just existing but also future conditions. She also encourages team members to continually think for the client and the community. She expressed that our involvement in developing a robust set of urban design guidelines means ArchTam has the opportunity to meaningfully steer the nature of private developments within this iconic piece of public space in Kuala Lumpur, ensuring that urban progress and community development go hand in hand.

Michael Barry, who is responsible for appointing subconsultants and is project manager for four of the ten construction packages, finds the level of collaboration and diversity within the project a powerful factor. To him, this has resulted in a continuous transfer of knowledge between the local and international team members — from the standpoints of technical know-how to the culture and history of the project site.

Our collective passion and winning attitude towards this project are reflected in some of the recent accolades that it has received, including ArchTam’s 2014 Excellence Award for Best Win and the Awards for Excellence 2014 at the 50th International Society of City and Regional Planners congress in Gdynia, Poland. Needless to say, this is the kind of enthusiasm expected for something as positively transformational as the River of Life.

Scott Dunn, ArchTam director of development, vice president, South East Asia, directs multidisciplinary teams on the design of mixed-use, new communities and high-density master plan developments across Asia. He is an advocate of sustainable land development and high-density urban environmental design and believes that in order to create great places, one should be sensitive to both the environment and the society that lives in it.
LinkedIn: Scott Dunn

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