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Agence France-Presse

Giant pumps whirr deep underground at a plant in Singapore that helps transform sewage into water so clean it is fit for human consumption while reducing ocean pollution.
The tiny island nation has little in the way of natural water sources and has long had to rely principally on supplies from neighbouring Malaysia.
To boost self-sufficiency, the government has developed an advanced system for treating sewage involving a network of tunnels and hi-tech plants.
Recycled waste water can now meet 40 per cent of Singapore’s water demand – a figure that is expected to rise to 55 per cent by 2060, according to the country’s water agency.

While most is used for industrial purposes, some of it is added to drinking water supplies in reservoirs in the city state of 5.7 million people.
And the system helps reduce maritime pollution, as only a small amount of the treated water is discharged into the sea.
This is a contrast to most other countries – 80 per cent of the world’s waste water flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to UN estimates.
“Singapore lacks natural resources and it is limited in space, which is why we are always looking for ways to explore water sources and stretch our water supply,” said Low Pei Chin, chief engineer of the Public Utilities Board’s water reclamation department.
One key strategy is to “collect every drop” and “reuse endlessly”, she added.
Singapore is checking waste water with people’s poo for coronavirus
This is in addition to the city state’s other main approaches to securing water supplies – importing it, using reservoirs and desalinating seawater.
At the heart of the recycling system is the hi-tech Changi Water Reclamation Plant on the city’s eastern coast.
Parts of the facility in land-scarce Singapore are underground – some as deep as 25 stories – and it is fed by waste water that flows through a massive, 48km (30-mile) tunnel, linked to sewers.
The site houses a maze of steel pipes, tubes, tanks, filtration systems and other machinery, and can treat up to 900 million litres (237 million US gallons) of waste water a day – enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 24 hours for a year.

In one building, a network of ventilators have been installed to keep the air smelling fresh, although a putrid whiff still hangs in the air.
Sewage that arrives at the plant undergoes an initial filtering process before powerful pumps send it flowing to facilities above ground for further treatment.
There, the treated water is further cleansed, with impurities like bacteria and viruses removed through advanced filtration processes, and disinfected with ultraviolet rays.
The product, dubbed “NEWater”, is mainly used in microchip manufacturing plants – which are ubiquitous in the city state and require high-quality water – and for cooling systems in buildings.
Singapore ‘playing for time’ in water dispute with Malaysia
But it also helps boost drinking water supplies. During the dry season, it is sent to top up several man-made reservoirs and, following further treatment, flows to people’s taps.
Singapore is expanding its recycling system.
It will add an extra underground tunnel and a major water reclamation plant to serve the western half of the island, which should be completed by 2025.
Singapore will have spent S$10 billion (US$7.4 billion) on upgrading its water treatment infrastructure by the time the expansion is finished.
One impetus to seek greater self-sufficiency are the city state’s historically fractious relations with key water source, Malaysia.

The neighbours have had stormy ties since Malaysia ejected Singapore from a short-lived union in 1965, and they have in the past had rows over water supplies.
Stefan Wuertz, a professor of environmental engineering at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, stressed the importance for other countries to treat waste water more effectively, warning of serious long-term impacts otherwise.
“There is a limited amount of water on the planet,” he said. “If we were to keep polluting the fresh water, at some stage we would reach the point where … treatment becomes extremely expensive.”


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Singapore

In Singapore, 40 per cent of water supply comes from recycled sewage

The Bedok NEWater plant in Singapore. Photo: AFP

This picture taken on July 27, 2021 shows the equipment for the reverse osmosis treatment on used water at the Bedok NEWater plant in Singapore. - Giant pumps whir deep underground at the plant in Singapore that helps transform sewage into water so clean it is fit for human consumption while reducing ocean pollution. (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP) / TO GO WITH Singapore-environment-water-pollution,FOCUS by Martin Abbugao

This picture taken on July 27, 2021 shows a tank for processed used water storage at the Bedok NEWater plant in Singapore. - Giant pumps whir deep underground at the plant in Singapore that helps transform sewage into water so clean it is fit for human consumption while reducing ocean pollution. (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP) / TO GO WITH Singapore-environment-water-pollution,FOCUS by Martin Abbugao

This picture taken on July 27, 2021 shows the reverse osmosis treatment on used water equipment at the Bedok NEWater plant in Singapore. - Giant pumps whir deep underground at the plant in Singapore that helps transform sewage into water so clean it is fit for human consumption while reducing ocean pollution. (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP) / TO GO WITH Singapore-environment-water-pollution,FOCUS by Martin Abbugao

Hong Kong built a desalination plant to combat a water shortage – but water from China was cheaper

The Lok On Pai desalination plant on Castle Peak Road, in 1988, several years after it was shut down. Photo: SCMP

330,000 Chinese facing drinking water shortages as drought hits south

Chinese regions south of the Yangtze River have been hit by drought in recent months. Photo: Getty Images

CHUZHOU, CHINA - OCTOBER 20: Aerial view of a paddy field during harvest season at Quanjiao County on October 20, 2020 in Chuzhou, Anhui Province of China. (Photo by Shen Guo/VCG via Getty Images)

Singapore-Malaysia water dispute: Lee Hsien Loong and Mahathir Mohamad say they’re open to arbitration

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong with Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Putrajaya. Photo: Reuters

Malaysia's Prime Minister Office in Putrajaya, Malaysia. 31MAY18 SCMP / Nora Tam

A worker tends to a pond of water lilies in the backdrop of the skyline of Singapore, February 22, 2016. Singapore will release the fourth quarter GDP on Wednesday. REUTERS/Edgar Su

News

Asia

Southeast Asia


The city state uses a system that transforms sewage into water so clean it is fit for human consumption while reducing ocean pollution
Recycled waste water can now meet 40 per cent of Singapore’s water demand – a figure that’s expected to rise to 55 per cent by 2060



The city state uses a system that transforms sewage into water so clean it is fit for human consumption while reducing ocean pollution.


Environment

Climate change

In Singapore, 40 per cent of water supply comes from recycled sewage

The city state uses a system that transforms sewage into water so clean it is fit for human consumption while reducing ocean pollution Recycled waste water can now meet 40 per cent of Singapore’s water demand – a figure that’s expected to rise to 55 per cent by 2060

The city state uses a system that transforms sewage into water so clean it is fit for human consumption while reducing ocean pollution

Recycled waste water can now meet 40 per cent of Singapore’s water demand – a figure that’s expected to rise to 55 per cent by 2060