PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency commemorated the closure of NEWater Visitor Centre (NVC) and Bedok NEWater Factory (BNF) with a closing ceremony on 27 Sep 2024.
The event, graced by guest-of-honour Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, was attended by more than 100 guests.
Although the NVC has officially closed on 31 Jul 2024, visitors can still head to the Sustainable Singapore Gallery (SSG) at the Marina Barrage to learn more about the Singapore water story, which features NEWater. PUB is committed to continue NEWater education and promote water sustainability and is working on developing a new exhibit on NEWater at SSG and at a learning gallery located at the upcoming Tuas Nexus.
With Singapore’s water demand projected to nearly double by 2065, NEWater’s role as a dependable and weather-resilient national tap remains vital. To meet projected increase in water demand from industries, PUB is building a third NEWater factory in Changi, located within the existing Changi Water Reclamation Plant (WRP).
PUB will continue to expand its used water treatment capacity and NEWater infrastructure. Plans are underway to reconstruct Kranji WRP and Kranji NEWater Factory (KNF), while Changi WRP will undergo a third phase of expansion to further increase its used water treatment capacity.
The upcoming Tuas NEWater Factory (TNF), which will be integrated within the Tuas WRP currently under construction, will have a production capacity of 75 million gallons per day (MGD) — the equivalent of 136 Olympic-sized swimming pools. A construction tender for the expansion of TNF from its initial capacity of 25MGD to 75MGD will be launched later this year.
The upcoming Tuas WRP will be retrofitted with ceramic membrane bioreactors (MBR)s for industrial water treatment and will house the world’s largest MBR system.
Singapore progresses towards a three-node used water management system by 2035, with the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) at its core, consists of Changi WRP in eastern Singapore, Kranji WRP in the north and Tuas WRP in the west.
There is also a continuous effort to enhance energy efficiency in NEWater production. PUB has been collaborating with local and overseas partners to develop and scale biomimetic membranes for municipal applications. The technology uses nature-based protein water channels within a filtration membrane, which facilitates high water flow while minimising energy consumption. Demonstration plant trials at KNF with Aquaporin Asia which commenced last year are achieving 20% reduction in energy consumption.
To improve NEWater recovery rates, PUB explored the incorporation of water technology company ROTEC’s flow-reversal technology in the reverse osmosis (RO) membranes used during the NEWater production process.
Initial trials have demonstrated an improvement in recovery rates from 85% to as high as 90%, enabling PUB to produce more NEWater from each drop of treated used water effluent. The flow-reversal technology will be incorporated into the design of the future NEWater plants.
In her opening remarks, Minister Fu paid tribute to the dedication and contributions of the pioneers, whose spirit has been integral in implementing the technology behind NEWater.
Some of these pioneers include PUB senior consultant Harry Seah, then-project manager of the NEWater study team who oversaw the R&D phase of NEWater before it was launched in 2002, and Tan Thai Pin, the study team’s deputy project manager. Prof Ong Choon Nam, a local expert on water quality, contributed technical knowledge as chairman of the international expert panel on NEWater alongside his fellow panel members.
