Radio Feature 4: Singapore: NEWater

Radio Script:

Cut 1 - (sfx: water droplets dropping slowly)

Nar:

Water. It makes up seventy percent of our body and covers three quarters of the Earth. It
is also part of the water cycle.

Evaporation of the oceans occurs, and water condenses to form clouds. Water then falls
back to earth again, as precipitation.

But less than one percent of Earth's water is fit for human consumption.

A study by the United Nations states, that about 1.2 billion people around the world, will
experience a lack of safe drinking water, in the next twenty five years.

For a small country like Singapore, with a population of 4.5 million people, how does it
ensure that everyone has access to drinking water?

Singapore is an island located in South East Asia. Surrounded by the Straits of Malacca,
Singapore’s ideal geographic location makes it a common shipping route for ships to
various ports. Until recent times, seawater was not seen as a main water resource, due to
the high costs of desalination.

The forty two year old nation had little water resources to begin with. In the early days,
Singapore’s two main water sources were its reservoirs, and water imports from its
neighbor, Malaysia.

In 1963, taps ran dry for 12 hours each day. Water rationing had to be carried out. As a
nation, Singapore had to increase self-sufficiency and long term water security.

Diversifying its sources of water was the way to go. In 1974, water recycling was thought
to be a possible source. However, the technology was unstable and also expensive back
then.

Why did Singapore turn to water reclamation? Mr Yap Kheng Guan, Director of 3P
Network from Singapore’s national water agency, PUB, explains more.

Cut 2 – Yap

For eg if we look at long river system, where there are many cities share the resource
along the same river. You can actually see multiple reuse of water along the way. so a
city that is most downstream probably will be taking water from the river that has been
used many times over. If you look at it nature has a way of recycling water. we always
like to remind people that if a drop of water could well come even from the age of
dinosaur. It’s just that nature has a way of turning it around, recycling it over and over
again.

Nar:

In the late 1990s, Singapore looked at recycled water again. By then, technology had
stabilized.

Membranes, key to water recycling, were cheaper. A demo treatment plant was built.
And in 2002, NEWater was born.

Cut 3 – Yap

Now what we are trying to do here with newater is actually a technological way of doing
what nature has done with water. we're taking water that is already very clean. and
purify it further. its almost like mimicking nature if you like. but with technology, you
know you can be very assured, water is as good as what nature produce, if not better.

Nar:

NEWater is high grade reclaimed water produced from treated used water.

It has passed more than thirty thousand scientific tests and surpasses the World Health
Organization’s requirements.

Besides NEWater, PUB also plans and manages Singapore’s water resources.

Mr Yap elaborates how this is done with the help of technology.

Cut 4 – Yap

The main consideration is to have resilience and a diversity of a water source. What we
have done over the last few yrs was to invest and spend a lot of time on R&D. cos in the
search for new sources of water that's a very impt avenue. technology has come a long
way since the whole idea of using purified recycled water came into being. the early
experiments were in fact picking up water that is already treated to a high quality. and
we purify it further. that was done 15 years ago. over time, technology has improved. and
making it possible, membranes, reverse osmosis process, that are very cost effective. so
when that came along it was a very natural choice that we look very seriously at highly
purified recycled water as another source of a water supply. so that's how newater was
born.

Nar:
Currently, Singapore has four NEWater plants.

In February 2003, the NEWater Visitor Centre opened.

This centre welcomes members of the public to learn more about the technologies and
processes behind NEWater.

Cut 5: (sfx: fade up elaine giving tour)

Nar:

Elaine Pan, a tour guide at the NEWater Visitor Centre, shares how NEWater becomes
used water.

Cut 6 - (sfx: layer with plant atmos)

Cut 7 – Pan

For newater it comes in 4 different process. The very first stage is what we call
ultrafiltration. What is ultrafiltration all about? After we collect all the used water from
homes from industry, all this water will be channeled to the water reclamation plant to
process for treatment. After this, this will be known as the treated effluent. And this
treated effluent will then channeled to newater factory. Then from there they go through
the first stage of ultrafiltration. At ultrafiltration we are using membranes from Canada.
Just imagine they look like straws. But the very unique thing about this is on the body, it
contains very very small pores. We call it the microscopic pores. This pores is about 0.04
micron. Comparing to an average human hair size, is about 1 thousand times smaller. So
what happen is through the hollow centre we are using vacuum to draw up the water
molecule. Why is it up because the vacuum is from the top. And then at this stage
ultrafiltration we will only managed to block away the larger size of contaminants and
impurity. Then the water move to next stage, reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis we are
using different type of membrane, comes from US. With a pore size of 0.0001micron. at
reverse osmosis we are no longer using vacuum. We are using pressure. To force the
water through the membrane. At this stage it will even block away the remaining smaller
size of virus, bacteria, contaminants, micro organism and salts and minerals. After this
stage reverse osmosis, the quality of this water is so good it has exceeded the guidelines
set by the world health organization. We have to have a safety barrier just to make sure
everything goes right. We have the third one ultra violet disinfection. The UV disinfection
unit comes from UK. In every individual unit there will be 6 UV lights that gives out the
temperature of 800 degrees. Now we do know the boiling point of water is 100. So how
do we prevent the water from having direct contact with the light? We are going to
encase the water in a quartz casing. After the water has been through the first second and
3rd stage the pH level of the water will drop to acidic level due to the lack of minerals and
salt. To prevent corrosion for the pipe, we are going to add in sodium hydroxide so this
will bring back the pH level. And this is newater.
Cut 8 - (sfx: running tap. Someone washes hands and turns off tap. Sfx of water being
drained down the sink.)

Nar:

There are two ways as to how NEWater is used.

NEWater is mainly supplied to industries for non-potable use, such as cooling of air
conditioners.

This frees up water from other sources for potable uses, including daily household needs.

NEWater now meets 15% of Singapore's water demand.

There are continued demands from wafer fabrication plants and petrochemical companies
for more NEWater.

A fifth NEWater plant will open its doors later this year.

By 2011, NEWater plants will have the capacity to meet 30% of Singapore's water needs.

A small percentage of NEWater is blended into reservoirs, and is treated before being
distributed as tap water.

Cut 9 – Pan

There was actually a survey done after we launched newater. that's the one that actually
showed very high level of acceptance. more than 90% of the people polled actually said
that they have no problem with newater.

Cut 10 - (fade up voxpops on newater)

Cut 11 – Pan

When you look at what has happened to newater and desalinated water it is in a way the
product of many years of looking at tech investing at tech and R&D. today allow us to
add on two new sources on to 2 very traditional sources of water.

Nar:

These two new sources are NEWater and desalinated water which was introduced in
2005.

The Singspring Desalination Plant uses reverse osmosis to treat seawater into drinking
water.
Cut 12 – Pan

And today we have 4 national taps, 4 diff sources of water. it gives us a diversity and it
gives us a good degree of robustness and resilience in our water supply.

Nar:

NEWater has achieved international acclaim, as PUB receives delegates from all over the
world.

A global hydrohub is what Singapore is working towards, as it continues to engage in

research and development.

In end June 2008, Singapore will host its first International Water Week, as a platform for
delegates to exchange knowledge pertaining to water.

PUB is also encouraging Singaporeans to value water by making water a part of their
lives.

Water catchment areas are opened up for activities, creating a sense of ownership of
water.

Increasing value is placed on the need to conserve water and to use available water
supplies effectively.

With the Four National Taps in place, Singapore now has a diversified and sustainable
water supply.

This ensures that the needs of future generations are well taken care of.

This feature was produced by Foo Shu-Yi, Charlene Tan and Jacqueline Seng from the
School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University,
Singapore.

(END)