PROJECT KEPPEL HILL RESERVOIR
A COLLABORATION BETWEEN HCI AND NHB
HISTORY
Source: Singapore: Portrait of a Port, A Pictorial History of the Port and Harbour of Singapore 1819 – 1984, Port of Singapore Authority, 1984, p45
Source: URA 1958 Masterplan, Sheet 229
In 1924, the general plan of the Singapore Harbour Board showed that the reservoir area had been expanded to include two smaller reservoirs and each reservoir was numbered (Annex A circled in red). Reservoir No.1 was the largest reservoir and it is the only one that survived today.
ANNEX A
ANNEX B
FACTS
TIMELINE
2000
By the year 2000, the image of a body of water of the site completely disappears from local maps; the reservoir has been forgotten.
1958
After the end of the Japanese Occupation and the Pacific War, local maps often showed an outline of a body of water where the reservoir is sited but it is no longer captioned. For example, in the 1958 URA Masterplan, the outline of the reservoir was depicted but the water feature was not captioned (Annex B circled in red).
1948
In 1948, the reservoir was mentioned in a Straits Times news article as “Keppel Hill Reservoir”. It is possible that the site may have become a private reservoir and this may be the last official name given to the reservoir.
1944
In 1944, a British aerial reconnaissance report and map tagged the site as a “reservoir” describing it as “an open rectangular reservoir 55’ x 25’ with six filter beds, each 10’ x 4’, at the E. end”1
1938
Before the war in 1938, according to the Federated Malay States Survey Map, the reservoir was relabelled as a “swimming pool”. The swimming pool was mentioned in Japanese maps of Singapore during the Japanese Occupation.
1924
In 1924, the general plan of the Singapore Harbour Board showed that the reservoir area had been expanded to include two smaller reservoirs and each reservoir was numbered (Annex A circled in red). Reservoir No.1 was the largest reservoir and it is the only one that survived today.
1905
The reservoir was mentioned for the first time in the Tanjong Pagar Dock Arbitration map in 1905 and it is likely that the reservoir was a local source of water for the dockyard.