could make informed choices when making purchases. the tariff structure was also modified. while tariffs historically included a cross-subsidy from industries that paid a higher price to residential users that paid a lower price for social reasons, this policy was ended and residential users were charged a tariff that covers the full costs of supply. the level of water losses - more precisely defined as non-revenue water - is one of the lowest in the world at only 5%. responsibility for water supply and sanitation the headquarters of the public utilities board (pub). within the government of singapore, the ministry of sustainability and the environment is in charge of policy setting for water and sanitation. the public utilities board, a statutory board under the ministry, is in charge of providing drinking water as well as of sanitation and stormwater drainage. it also monitors compliance of potential polluters on the basis of the sewerage and drainage act. thus, pub is both a service provider and a regulator, but its regulatory role only encompasses other entities. the national environment agency monitors pub's compliance with environmental as well as drinking water quality standards on the basis of the environmental and public health act. legislation is effectively implemented, with heavy fines, and the various agencies in charge of water work together in a coordinated manner under a common framework. research and development in 2006, the singapore government identified water as a new growth sector and committed to invest s$330 million over the following five years in order to make singapore a global hub for water research and development. pub has an active research and development program that includes upstream research, pilot projects and demonstration projects. an environment and water industry development council (ewi) has been established to support, together with the national research foundation, a strategic research programme on clean water. leading japanese companies such as toshiba and toray have established water research centers in singapore. singapore is home to over 70 local and international water companies and 23 research and development centers working on about 300 projects valued at $185 million. furthermore, the lee kuan yew school of public policy at national university of singapore established an institute of water policy in 2008. also since 2008, the country has hosted the singapore international water week, a key event for the global water industry. financial aspects tariffs. water and sewer tariffs in singapore are set at a level allowing cost recovery, including capital costs. water and sewer tariffs were raised substantially in the late 1990s, so that the average monthly domestic bill including taxes increased from s$13 in 1996 to s$30 in 2000. the sewerage tariff (called "waterborne fee") is s$0.30/m3 for domestic users plus a fixed tariff of s$3 per "chargeable fitting" per month. the water tariff includes a conservation tax set at 30% that increases to 45% for domestic consumption above 40 m3 per month. a general service tax of 7% is added to the bill. as of 2012, a household consuming 20 m3 per month and that has three "chargeable fittings" faces a water bill of s$32.5 per month and a sewer bill of s$15 per month, both including all taxes. the total of s$47.5 (usd 37.7) per month corresponds to s$2.38/m3 (us$1.88/m3). industrial water tariffs are set lower at s$0.52/m3. water and sewerage tariffs are lower than tariffs in some european countries such as in germany where the average water and sewer tariff including taxes was euro 3.95 per m3 in 2004. from 2017, the water tariff will increase by 30% in two phases. investment. in the financial year 2010 pub undertook investments of s$411 million (usd 290 million) in its own assets, mainly for water supply and newater, and s$451 million (usd 319 million) for assets belonging to the government, mainly for sanitation and stormwater drainage. this corresponds to annual investments of usd 117 per capita, which is higher than in the united states where the corresponding figure is usd 97. financing. in 2005 pub issued for the first time a bond, raising s$400 million, to finance part of its investment program. since then, bonds have been issued regularly, including a s$300 million bond with a maturity of 20 years in 2007. during the financial year 2010, pub group received an operating grant of s$185 million to fund the operation and maintenance of the stormwater drainage network and operating costs of certain water infrastructure assets such as the marina, serangoon and punggol reservoir schemes. notes the five desalination plants are: singspring desalination plant, tuas south desalination plant (tsdp), tuas desalination plant (tdp), keppel marina east desalination plant (kmedp), and jurong island desalination plant (jidp).