Awareness of environmental issues high here: ENV survey

AWARENESS of environmental issues among Singaporeans is high, according to an Environment Ministry (ENV) survey released over the weekend.

But this awareness has not been translated into action, going by other statistics from ENV and other Government bodies.

Several of the findings in th~ awareness survey concerning littering and water conservation highlighted this anomaly:

U The Number 1 environmental issue identified by the i,i1Z people surveyed was littering.

And 99 per cent of the respondents also said that they would not litter.

However, the number of littering cases in the last three years still remains high despite the introduction of Corrective Work Orders in November 1992, which requires offenders to clean up public areas.

There were 4,201 litterbugs nabbed last year compared with 4,555 in 1993, and 4,582 three years ago.

U 55 per cent said that water conservation was an important issue, while 9% per cent said that they would conserve water.

But over the last few weeks, it has been revealed that the rise in water consumption reached a record high of 6.5 per cent last year.

And if left unchecked, Singapore’s current supply would dry up in six years.

A National University of Singapore survey of consumption patterns also showed that one family in Singapore Is using more than 100 buckets of water (900 litres) daily to clean their house, while another uses 79 buckets to bathe every day.

Other findings in the survey showed that next to littering, recycling (98 per cent) and air pollution (97 per cent) were the two issues that the respondents were most aware of.

In the survey, which was carried out earlier this year, 88 per cent of the respondents said that society at large was responsible for the protection of the environment, while 8 per cent said that it was the Government’s duty.

A similar number said that it was the individual’s responsibility.

The survey is the third of its kind carried out in four years.

Concern over keeping Singapore clean has always turned up as a priority issue, except in 1993, when It was displaced as the Number 1 concern by the hole in the ozone layer.

In surveys done in 1990 and 1991, most Singaporeans also said that the best way they could help protect the environment was by not littering.

But, as Environment Minister Mah Bow Tan told Parliament last week, littering was still prevalent despite the many years of anti-littering campaigns.

To help turn awareness of littering and water conservation into action, both ENV and the Public Utilities Board are planning to step up their education programmes. This year’s Clean and Green Week would have anti-littering as one of its main themes and ENV is also considering empowering residents to help police in their efforts against littering.

PUB, which has already announced higher water conservation taxes starting on Saturday, will launch a new "save water" campaign in June and hold neighbourhood water rationing exercises.

Source : The Straits Times 27th Mar 1995

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