Durai $900 dollar tap is peanuts compare to this
A splash towards sufficiencyAbout the size of nine football fields, fourth 'national tap' at Tuas to be turned on today
Tuesday • September 13, 2005
Loh Chee Kong
[email protected]Singapore's fourth "national tap" is ready and it will be turned on today.
As the final piece in the country's water strategy — the $200-million desalination plant, which is situated at Tuas — will be officially unveiled by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong this evening.
The supply of desalinated water will be ramped up progressively and will be blended with reservoir water before being supplied to the western parts of Singapore including areas such as Lim Chu Kang, Bukit Batok and Clementi.
Hailing the opening of the desalination plant as a "historical moment", Mr Yap Kheng Guan, the Public Utilities Board's (PUB) director of 3P (public-private partnership) network said: "The sea will be like a limitless source unlike other sources which are dependent on factors such as rainfall and sewage volume."
Built by SingSpring, a subsidiary of Hyflux, the new desalination plant complements Singapore's existing sources of water local catchment, Newater and imported water from Johor.
The fourth tap is opening three months ahead of schedule. According to the PUB, the plant is the "biggest in the world to date and one of the world's most energy-efficient".
Under the 20-year deal, the 6.3-hectare plant — about the size of nine football fields — will produce up to 30 million gallons of water per day and meet 10 per cent of Singapore's daily needs which currently stands at 300 million gallons per day. Offering reporters a taste of the desalinated water, Mr Lim Chiow Giap, the PUB's director of water supply plants, said that it "tastes the same as normal tap water".
The PUB will buy water from the plant at 78 cents a cubic metre. In comparison, Newater costs $1.15 a cubic metre. One cubic metre is approximately 220 gallons.
The cost of the desalinated water is also lower than $1.17 to $1.40 a cubic metre which households currently pay for water.
Two years ago, Second Minister for National Development Lim Swee Say, who was then the Environment Minister, said that Singapore aimed to be self-sufficient in 2061, if need be, with an affordable water supply. Commenting on the country's target to be self-sufficient in water, Mr Yap said that while the new desalination plant gives Singapore the capacity "to be self-sufficient if need be", the PUB will continue to be cost-effective and source for the cheapest supply of water.
According to Mr Yap, the Marina Reservoir — which will be Singapore's 15th — will meet 10 per cent of the current water demand.
The fourth Newater plant, which is being built in Ulu Pandan, will be operational next year. By 2011, PUB is targeting to have 55 million gallons per day or 15 per cent of Singapore's total water demand met by Newater.
