Beyond the shining surface, a place like home

The minute city-state where migrants chose to gather

Like most important port cities around the world, Singapore's history largely boils down to two words: water and immigration. In fact, those words have been central to this droplet of land since long before it became Singapore and have continued to be so decades since it became the garden city-state that it is known as today.

"Despite sitting on the shore of the ocean, we are a resource-scarce nation when it comes to fresh drinking water," says Tan Ying Hao, senior manager from Singapore's Catchment & Waterways Department. "Throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Singapore imported more than 70 percent of its fresh water consumption from Malaysia. The proportion is now 50 percent."