The planning area borders Tuas and Pioneer to its south, Sungei Kadut, Choa Chu Kang and Tengah to its east, Jurong West to its southeast, Lim Chu Kang to its north and the Straits of Johor to its west.

Part of the Western Water Catchment is also a live-firing area in which it is used by the Singapore Armed Forces for training purposes.

A military aerostat, widely referred to as a blimp locally, is tethered to the ground at Choa Chu Kang Camp as part of testing for use as long-range air defence radar in Singapore.

Half of the Western Water Catchment lies within the SAFTI Live Firing Area boundary.

The boundary is within Bahtera Track, Lim Chu Kang Road, New Lim Chu Kang Road, Jalan Bahar, Nanyang Avenue, Nanyang Crescent, Nanyang Drive, PIE, the production of Singapore Rail Test Centre (SRTC), Singapore Rail Test Centre (SRTC), Tengeh Reservoir and Straits of Johor.

These will be affected under the proposed Lim Chu Kang Road realignment project for the expanded Tengah Air Base, along with the construction of the new SAFTI City.

The facility was located within an existing training area in Lim Chu Kang, in the vicinity of Jalan Murai.

The MUTF was permanently closed in 26 August 2022 to be given for the construction of the new Lim Chu Kang Road and Tengah Airbase, with training being shifted to SAFTI City.

Western Water Catchment houses the Home Team Academy (HTA), which is located along Old Choa Chu Kang Road, and the Civil Defence Academy (CDA), which is located along Jalan Bahar, next to the Muslim cemetery.

Western Water Catchment houses the main campus of Nanyang Technological University and National Institute of Education, located at the boundary with Jurong West.

Within its grounds, are several columbaria, including the state-run Choa Chu Kang Columbarium, and two private facilities, namely The Garden of Remembrance, a Christian columbarium and Ji Le Memorial Park, a Buddhist facility.

[10] Tengeh Reservoir is part of the SAFTI Live Firing Area (South) and has restricted access since 19 January 1992.

The government of Singapore has made the second large acquisition of land for the project by requiring Raffles Country Club to vacate its plot as the site offers the "most suitable location" to run the HSR tracks after the bridge crossing and to place the tunnel portal leading to the tunnels that would take the HSR to the Jurong East terminus.

The site has to be vacated by July 31, 2018, to be used for HSR crossover tracks and a siding facility to temporarily house a train near the border for safety or operational reasons.

It is renamed to Singapore Rail Test Centre, the northern perimeter is called Peng Kang View from May 2024.

[10] It is part of SAFTI Live Firing Area (North), of which is restricted to only from the TRMC Operations Room and accessible from Gate I.

Besides public bus services, NTU internal campus shuttle buses provide a free alternative to public buses for commutes between Pioneer MRT station and NTU as well as within the campus.