The Seletar Reservoir is situated between Mandai Road and Seletar Expressway in Singapore’s Central Water Catchment area. The reservoir was the third impounding reservoir in Singapore when it was completed in 1920 and had an initial capacity of 150 million gallons. In 1940, the Water Department expanded the reservoir and added pumping stations that enabled the transfer of water from Seletar to Peirce Reservoir. Further expansion works were started by the Public Utilities Board (PUB) in April 1967 to increase the reservoir’s capacity to over 5,000 million gallons in an attempt to meet Singapore’s growing water consumption needs. The expanded reservoir, then the largest in Singapore, was officially opened in August 1969 by Princess Alexandra of Great Britain. Besides expanding the reservoir, the PUB also built a 60-foot-tall glass encased viewing tower and various watersports facilities around the area to encourage its use as a recreational park. Plans to establish a zoological garden near the reservoir were also announced. In 1992, the reservoir was renamed Upper Seletar Reservoir while the neighbouring Sungei Seletar Reservoir became known as the Lower Seletar Reservoir.
