Nearly two decades ago, our Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew had a vision. A vision to envisaged damming the mouth of the Marina Channel to create a freshwater reservoir.

The Marina Barrage is a dam built across the 350-metre wide Marina Channel to keep out seawater. This particular dam became Singapore's first reservoir in the city and 15th reservoir. Marina Reservoir, combined with the future Punggol and Serangoon reservoirs, it would increase Singapore’s water catchment areas from half to two-thirds of Singapore’s land areas.

Flood Control

The Marina Barrage is part of a comprehensive flood control scheme to control flooding at low-lying areas in the city such as Chinatown, Boat Quay, Jalan Besar and Geylang.

During heavy rains, the nine crest gates at the dam would be activated to release excess storm water into the sea when the tide is low.

In the case of high tide, giant pumps which are capable of pumping an Olympics-size swimming pool per minute will drain excess storm water into the sea.