D. J. Murnane

David Joseph Murnane (1892 – 1953) was Singapore's longest serving municipal water engineer, serving from 1925 to 1947.

Born in Coolock, Dublin, Ireland in 1892, Murnane was the third son of David and Mary (nee Cummins) Murnane. At the time of the 1901 census the family lived in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary; their religion was recorded as Roman Catholic and the father's occupation was given as head constable in the Royal Irish Constabulary. An engineering graduate of Queen's University Belfast, when he applied for membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1917 he gave his home address as Dunsany, Co. Meath.

Murnane joined the Royal Engineers and served in Gallipoli in the World War I; there he suffered typhoid as a result of drinking water from poisoned wells. As 2nd Lieutenant, he was commended for conspicuous gallantry in action in 1916 and was awarded the Military Cross. His rank was given as Captain according to a National Archives online record.

Murnane joined the Municipal Water Department in February 1920 and became the head of the department in 1925. Significantly, during his time, Singapore began importing water from Gunong Pulai in Johor (now part of Malaysia). Under an agreement with the Sultan of Johore, raw water began to flow on 2 June 1927 and, as a result, the "danger of a water famine in Singapore ... had practically disappeared". Filtered water from newly built reservoirs and filters in Gunong Pulai began to flow on 31 December 1929 This water flowed by gravity to the Pearl's Hill Reservoir about 33 miles away. At that time the population of Singapore was 525,000 and water consumption was 16.5 million gallons per day. The total project cost was $16.2 million, a tremendous investment which would cause Singapore water rates to be the highest in Malaya.

Arguably, the Gunong Pulai water supply project was the most significant public infrastructure project undertaken in water-scarce Singapore. It was reviewed favourably in 1928 by a visiting independent commissioner from Burma who said it was the biggest municipal project he had heard of in the region. The Municipal Treasurer reported in 1930 that he found the project was managed to a very high standard in terms of financial controls. For photographs of the Sultan Ibrahim reservoir at Gunong Pulai, which was handed back by the Singapore Public Utilities Board to Malaysia in 2011, including the commemorative plaque with the names of the key engineering staff, click through the footnote

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