I would like to know more about NEWater.?
2) How it is made?
3) Why is NEWater important for Singapore?
Answer:
Go to the link for a complete description.
NEWater is the brand name given to reclaimed water produced by Singapore's Public Utilities Board. More specifically, it is treated wastewater (sewage) that has been purified using dual-membrane (via microfiltration and reverse osmosis) and ultraviolet technologies, in addition to conventional water treatment processes. The water is potable and is consumed by humans, but is mostly used for industry requiring high purity water.
Hi, this is quite a cool question. It's been a long time since I've visited FunQA.com, but when I saw this, I just had to answer it!
To tackle your 3 questions one at a time,
1)NEWater is basically water from sewage systems that go through a process that turns it into clean drinking water. However this is not as sinister as it sounds. In Singapore, we filter our sewage and put that water into reservoirs, after which goes into the NEWater plants. After the process of creating NEWater, we do not directly pump it into homes, we put it back into other reservoirs. From there, we purify it as we would do with normal water, and then pump it out. Currently it is only used in industries.
2) Explained above is the general concept of how we make NEWater, but the process itself is a bit more intricate. The sewage water will go through a few levels of filtering firstly removing the larger impurities and debris in the water. After that, it goes through another filter that does the same thing to smaller impurities. Then it is sent through a cleaning process where the water is purified, before going through a membrane process where the water passes through a semi-permeable filter that only allows molecules the size of water to pass through. think of it like a very very very fine sieve. That's how NEWater is made, as simply as I can put it.
3) NEWater is important for Singapore as we import most of our water from Malaysia. However due to current political discussions, the water supply might be cut off, leaving Sinagpore to fend for itself for water. However since in fact the water comes from Malaysia to Singapore to be purified before going back to them again as clean to drink, we have the purification plants and can go about the above mentioned process in 1) where we put the water back into reservoirs before sending it through the normal water cleaning process.
NEWater is also alot cheaper compared to our other source, desalination. Desalination is sea water that is turned into potable water safe for us to drink. However the water from desalination only purifies it while leaving a slight salty taste, making it an option not as viable as others. Without desalination and imported water, we only have NEWater for us to drink. We do in fact have buildings with rain water catchment systems, however this too is not safe for drinking and is used for toilets or industrial work rather than consumption.
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NEWater is actually alot cleaner than it seems as it goes though many processes and not just the actual NEWater treatment. So despite it being what we flush down or have showered with, it's clean and safe for drinking. However Singapore is trying to avoid using it too soon as there are still skeptics about how clean it is. I've tried it and must say that it's taste is exactly like normal tap water. Besides, accross the world, water pipes that transport water into our homes are not very clean in themselves anyway, so the fact that NEWater is treated sewage doesn't make a difference.
I hope this wasn't too long and helps to clear up your questions about NEWater :)
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