Do you know?
- you save 9 litres of water when you cut your shower time by 1 minute
- you save 11 litres of water just by rinsing your teeth using a tumbler instead of a running tap
- you save 14 litres of water when you wash your vegetables and dishes in a filled sink instead pd under running tap water
Singapore is facing a growing population and the land and water is scarce. Hence, in order to meet their needs, PUB have constantly been working new ways to create a source of water that would not take a lot of space. After many years of research, they founded NEWater. In Singapore, there are 4 national taps which are known as local catchment, imported water, NEWater and desalinated water.
NEWater have two main uses: direct non potable use and indirect potable use. For direct non potable use, it is used for industries and factories to wash machineries, etc. As for indirect potable use, NEWater goes through a rigorous process of treating waste water into clean drinkable water go the public. There are 4 NEWater plants in Singapore at Changi, Ulu Pandan, Kranji and Bedok. NEWater meets 30% of the nation water needs today and it is said that by 2030, it would meet 50% of the nation water needs.
The following are the process of treating waste water into NEWater:
Firstly, waste water goes through a process called microfiltration which filter out big microorganism and bacteria found in the water through a membrane. What is left behind is water with dissolved salts and organic molecules.
The next step is the reverse osmosis. It filter out the finer contaminants. Go to the below links to find out more about them
The above steps actually made NEWater quite safe to drink and approved by the world health organisation. However, NEWater goes through an extra step as a safety back-up. The third step is called the ultraviolet disinfection. It uses ultraviolet rays from the UV lamp to disrupt the reproduction of bacteria and cells. The protective cover outside the UV lamp is to prevent the lamp to be in contact with the water. It also help to maintain the water temperature to 60 degree Celsius as the temperature of the lamp can go up to as high as 800 degrees celsius.
After all these measures, there is also a control system where staff working in PUB would collect water samples to ensure the quality of NEWater. Hence, NEWater is safe to consume.
From this trip, we have learned the importance of water to Singapore and that we all have a part to conserve water. At the end of the trip, we took a pledge to help reduce the use of water and have our photos taken as a commitment. In addition, we are also given a bottle of NEWater each by the tour guide and find that the taste of NEWater does not differ much from normal drinking water. After this trip, we are also given a task of being ambassadors to spread the word of conserving water to our family and friends! We all have a great time there!
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| An interactive game to tell visitor to value water. |
Do you think that NEWater is safe after visiting the NEWater visitor centre? Why? Has the trip there changed your thoughts about NEWater? Do you think that others should try to drink NEWater because NEWater may be our main source of water in Singapore in the future?
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that it is safe to drink as Singapore have put in extra effort to ensure that is is safe for the public. This trip have indeed changed my opinion about NEWater as I used to think that NEWater is unclean. But now, I feel proud to have this technology and think that NEWater have help us to solve water shortage problems. Others should try to drink NEWater and not reject it after one try. They should also understand the process of NEWater and get used to this taste. In the future, NEWater may be our main source of drinking water and in order to survive, we have to drink it!
ReplyDeleteHow are you going to reduce water?
ReplyDeleteWhy do you say that NEWater may be our main source of drinking water in future? Arent there 3 other national taps in e country?
ReplyDeleteWe can rinse our mouth after brushing our teeth with a cup instead of with running water. We can ask our parent to wash their cars with pails of water instead of splashing the car with a hose. We can drink all the water in our water bottles instead of throwing it away when we cannot finish drinking it.
ReplyDeleteThe 3 other taps are Water from local catchment, Imported water from Johor, Desalinated water from the sea and Reclaimed/Recycled water.
ReplyDeleteIf there is a drought due to global warming, there will not be any water in local catchment. If there is a drouth, Johor would not want to sell us water. So there will only b 2 taps. Also, the government has decreased the amount of water that we buy from Johor so that we will be more independent.
We can take shorter showers, wash vegetables or dishes in filled sink, fill washing machine on a full load, collect rinse water from washing machine for flushing the toilet or mopping the floor, repair leaks promptly, monitor water bills and use half flush for liquid waste
ReplyDeleteAs the water is a property of other countries, it might not be long lasting agreement.(delete) The contract (agreement) might not be able to sustain the basic need of Singapore citizens which is water. The contract (agreement)between Singapore and Malaysia is ending in 2011 and 2061. As a result, the government has to think of other solutions on solving Singapore’s water constraint. This may worry some of the citizens of Singapore as there might insufficient amount of water for the whole of Singapore and this shows that Singapore is very dependent on its neighbouring countries. Hence, imported water may be be a very reliable source of obtaining water.
ReplyDeleteAdapted from http://sec2geogcgss.wetpaint.com/page/Water+Constraint
Desalination will also incur problems while sustaining Singapore’s water supply as the effluent discharges from the desalination plant back into the sea would adversely affect the marine life and the ecology in the plant vicinity as the high concentrated brine discharge contains high level of salinity and total alkalinity that would lead to alteration to the temperature of the seawater. The flora and fauna in the sea would not be able to withstand the high temperature, thus losing their lives. This is harmful to the environment and therefore, may not be feasible.
Adapted from http://sec2geogcgss.wetpaint.com/page/2C+LDQ+Water
The amount of land used for water catchment areas takes up about 50% of Singapore’s limited land space and it will continue to develop till two thirds of Singapore is used for water catchment areas. Singapore is a tiny red dot, and we are suffering from land constraint. The land can be used to develop our growing economy, like building more industries and factories. An example is the building more tourist attractions. This will boost our economy and the money earned can be used to alleviate the sufferings of the low income families instead of using the precious land to build water catchment. Therefore, water catchment might not be a long-term solution for the water constraint problem.
Adapted from http://sec2geogcgss.wetpaint.com/page/2C+LDQ+Water