Tag: environment

MSE: Free or Low-cost Drinking Water

Committee of Supply Debate 2025, Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment

4 March 2025

More restaurants now charge for plain water, and some price bottled water the same as sugary drinks. This nudges consumers towards sugar-laden beverages, increasing the risk of obesity and diabetes.

Free or low-cost drinking water should be made more widely available across F&B outlets, shopping malls, heartland coffeeshops and public spaces. This supports healthier choices and reduces unnecessary costs for consumers.

I urge MSE to encourage and work with F&B outlets, coffeeshops, and malls to provide free or low-cost drinking water as a best practice.

MSE should also promote a culture of carrying reusable water bottles as part of Singapore’s sustainability efforts. Refilling reusable bottles cuts down our reliance on single-use plastics.

By nudging businesses, building owners and the public towards these norms, we can help Singaporeans stay hydrated while making choices that benefit their health, their wallets, and the environment.

Food contamination alert system is possible

Firstly, a correction to my previous post: The authorities took not 2 days, but 3 days, to shut down the stall. It was revealed in TODAY on Thursday that the first reports of food poisoning from that stall appeared on a Wed 1 Apr. The stall was not ordered closed by NEA until Sat 4 Apr morning.

I’ve received some useful feedback from friends regarding my previous post, where I questioned why NEA officers took so long to shut down the Geylang Serai rojak stall that was allegedly responsible for three deaths and over 150 cases of food poisoning.

Some felt that I was being unfair by expecting NEA to react faster than it did, and that I appeared to be pinning the blame on NEA for the food poisoning.

While I don’t think NEA is completely blameless, I never said that they are entirely to blame. The NEA, Ministry of Health (MOH), the stall holder, doctors and even some of stall patrons could have played a part to avert this tragedy, or at least prevent it from ballooning into this nightmare involving over 150 people. Most of all, I feel it is “the system” which is to blame, and not any individual person or agency. I am not interested in playing any finger-pointing games at this point, but to suggest how the system can be improved to avert future mass outbreaks of food poisoning.

Continue reading “Food contamination alert system is possible”