U.S. Water News Online
SINGAPORE -- Singapore will start pumping water reclaimed from sewers and sinks into the city's water system later this month to deliver it as tap water, making it one of the few cities in the world to offer reclaimed potable drinking water.
The reclaimed water will be mixed and blended with water from the city's reservoirs, from where it will be piped along with raw water to taps in offices and homes.
The reclaimed water, called ''NEWater,'' has been touted by international experts as good enough to drink, being well within the drinking-water standards specified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization.
Ready-to-drink samples of the reclaimed water in transparent bottles with cheery orange labels have been distributed free at public functions in Singapore as part of an education campaign over the last few months to dispel the concerns of the public.
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and his cabinet ministers have been seen drinking NEWater in public.
The sewage water is purified with state-of-the-art technology in a three-stage process of microfiltration using one of the highest-quality membranes in the world, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light disinfection.
The government has said it will start pumping 2 million gallons per day of recycled water into its raw-water reservoirs this month, which will be less than 1 percent of Singapore's total daily water consumption. But the percentage will be raised to about 2.5 percent by 2011.
Most of the recycled water is destined for industrial use.
NEWater underscores the small island state's intense efforts to pursue technological innovations for the production of alternative sources of water in recent years in a bid to gain a measure of self-sufficiency in water supply.
The government has a plan to meet at least one-third of its water demand through nonconventional sources such as water-reclamation and seawater desalination.
Meanwhile, private companies are following suit.
Hyflux Ltd., a water-treatment specialist in Singapore, plans to market a machine for offices and homes that can produce potable water from water vapor in the air starting in the middle of this year.
Hyflux plans to sell the machine for between $570 and $1,700.
The city state is currently heavily dependent on neighboring Malaysia for cheap raw water, with two water agreements signed between the two countries in 1961 and 1962 assuring a steady supply of water to Singapore.
However, the two pacts are due to expire in 2011 and 2061, and ties between the two countries have been strained by frequent squabbles over a wide range of issues, including water itself.
Both sides have not been able to resolve their differences over the price of the raw water Malaysia sells to Singapore and also the future supply, despite many rounds of negotiations.
Most Singaporeans seem to have rallied in support of NEWater. This is not surprising given the level of concern over water supply in the city state. For example, a water-conservation policy has been in force for years requiring all toilets in homes and offices to be fitted with flushing systems that do not use more than one gallon of water per flush.
Those who are uneasy about the idea of drinking water recycled from sewage have taken to buying bottled spring water imported from overseas, with suppliers reporting brisk sales in recent months of imported bottled water.
One company which supplies a popular brand of mineral water imported from Indonesia said sales have increased about 30 percent in the last couple of months compared with the same period last year.
Nevertheless, observers say that despite the initial qualms, people here will probably get used to drinking NEWater in the long run due to their known propensity in the past to go along with government policies.
''The percentage of those who are really concerned is probably less than 1 percent of Singapore's population. People are much more worried about the future. They don't care or bother about NEWater, but are more concerned about other more pressing issues such as money,'' said Lawrence Chua, managing director of Pureland International Pte. Ltd., which sells water-filtration systems.
Singapore is already one of the few countries in the world where water is safe enough to drink straight from the tap. So while dozens of brands of bottled mineral water from all parts of the world are available on supermarket shelves, these have always been more popular with Western expatriates living here than with the locals. Sales of water-filtration systems have also been sluggish.
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