Cheaper to purify dirty water,than use desalination

SMART money prefers backing water-reuse projects over desalination ones, says a study done jointly by Singapore and foreign consultants.
This is because it is cheaper to purify the outfall from water reclamation plants than to turn sea water into drinking water.
A sneak preview of the findings of the study by homegrown PUB Consultants and Global Water Intelligence (GWI), a leading analyst of the international water industry, bodes well for Singapore's foray into NEWater, the product of recycling used water.
PUB research associate Wong Xin Wei said: 'Instead of just discharging water from reclamation plants into the sea, you can make the investment to capture it and treat it to a higher level and then reuse it.'
And there are buyers for this know-how. Singapore's water authority PUB has already exported its technology to countries such as Saudi Arabia.
On home ground, the latest NEWater factory in Changi will step up recycled water production from 69,000 cu m a day to 228,000 cu m a day by the middle of next year.
So how much cheaper is recycled water than desalinated water?
When the NEWater factory in Changi begins treating water next month, Sembcorp will charge the PUB 30 cents for each cubic meter of NEWater - a steal when compared to the 78 cents for each cubic meter of desalinated water coming out of SingSpring Desalination Plant in Tuas.
The PUB-GWI report was put together to list the facilities which are involved in water-reuse across the world and to and analyse and predict market trends.
The study shows that if the current total of 2,659 plants work at full capacity, they will be able to churn out 93.5 million cu m of recycled water for domestic use each day.
Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times. Go to
http://is.gd/1hhUb