Increasing of water prices and further increasing of water supply deals with water conservation and increases water supply.

Increasing of water prices :

Implying the water conservation tax is to reduce wastage of water in the household. This is means to conserve water in the household. Singapore uses 2-tier water rates and the water conservation tax to encourage the conservation among the household. Money in the form of water conservation tax is paid to the government when more water is used in the household. This is how the water conservation tax works.

Further increasing of water supply :
Measures are taken to increase the water supply in Singapore. Measures done to water catchment areas are one of the many ways to further increase water supply. As i mentioned below, water catchment areas collect rain water to be treated and made into drinking water. To further increase water supply, expanding water catchment areas is one way. Expansion is done by buliding more reservoirs. Extension of the catchment area increases the amount of water able to be collected, hence, more water is collected to be treated into drinking water. Newater ( Water reclaimation ) and desalination of water, as i stated below, is one technological innovation used to increase Singapore's water supply.

Conservation of water.

Conservation of water is a method used to deal with water constraints in Singapore.

The term CONSERVATION OF WATER refers to saving of water as water as water is a precious and valuable source. This allows the up and coming generations to be able to use water. This also refers to the careful use of water, using of conservation teachniques.

The following methods can be used to save and conserve water.

~ Recycling of household water.
~ Collection of rain water.
~ Repairing of underground piping systems.
~ Using water saving methods and technology.
~ Educating the public of water conservation.

Recycling of household water.
- This allows water to be conserved at the home. Recycling of laundry water for many uses such as washing of toilets. Water for washing of rice can be used for watering plants.

Collection of rain water.
- Collection of rain water through pipes and canals. The water collected goes through the pipes and which is connected to the reservoirs. The water is then transferred to the reservoirs which are treated into water fit for human consumption.  Repairing of underground systems
- Not repairing spoilt pipes and faulty connections result in leaking of water. The water wasted is lost in huge amounts, resulting in the lost of a lot of water. Therefore, repairing of pipes and connections can save a lot of water. Using water saving methods and technology.
- Water drips are used instead of water sprays and irrigation canals for irrigation. Equipment used in factories is also replaced with more water saving equipment. Older equipment is also replaced to save water.

Educating the public.
- Educating the public of campaigns to save water. During total defense day, water rationing exercises can be carried out to allow the public to know about saving water. Through mass media, such as print media and broadcast media, the public can know ways to save water. Therefore, conservation of water is used to deal with water constraints. If even water supply is increased, not conserved, water is wasted and this may result in water shortages.

~ Our choice : NEWATER. (:

Our choice is chosen out of the 4 choices of how to efficiently increase water supply in Singapore as Newater makes use of a unlimited source, waste water, and turns into drinking water. Even thought a huge lump sum of money may be put into building the facilities needed for Newater to be processed, the end product is well worth it. It makes use of sources which are of no use to us. Newater is also a long term solution as it makes use of the one time building facilities and makes water fit for human consumption in the following years.

Now, I shall explain why the other methods are not as ideal.

Firstly, importing water may be an easy way to achieve water and it may not do any harm to the environment, however, it is not a long term solution and dispute may arise due to prices of water being sold, in this case, the cost of water being sold to Singapore is very cheap and Malaysia is unhappy of the situation, hence, threatening to cut off water supply any time. Therefore, the dispute may increase and militaries are threatening to attack if this rages on. Also, buying water may be easy, but the country selling its water also needs water to feed its population. In addition, buying water is real expensive and because Singapore had signed a contract dating back to 1961, and the price of water was real cheap back, then, hence, Singapore could sustain in buying water from Malaysia after such a long period of time. Also, buying water may cause financial toil on the country if the price increases.

Secondly, local catchment areas are not as ideal as these reservoirs need large spaces to be built to catch rain water. And due to the lack of physical space, reservoirs are very hard to build. In contrast, reservoirs may be build small. However, smaller reservoirs meant that there is a smaller surface area that of rain water could be collect. When dry spells happen, the reservoirs may be dry and hence, there is no water to be allowed to go through treatment for consumption.

Lastly, desalination is not as ideal even though both go through the processes of through reverse osmosis. Desalination plants are very costly to build. Also, desalination has by-products which are produced from the pre-treatment. The chemicals used are dumped into the ocean after its being used. Therefore, this harms the environment. Because of this, marine life is also affected. In addition, desalinated water can be harmful to humans as well. By-products of the chemicals used in desalination can get through into the water and endanger the person who drinks it. Desalinated water can also be acidic to both pipes and digestive systems.

~ Desalination - Tap 4

Desalination is the fourth and final process whereby Singapore uses to increase its water supply.

Desalination starts when the sea water collected goes through a pre-treatment process where suspended particles are removed. After that, the water goes through reverse osmosis where the salt content and other impurities are removed. ( Reverse osmosis is the process whereby the water is moved across the membrane against the concentration gradient, from lower concentration to higher concentration. ) Pressure is exerted on the side which is more concentrated, in this case, the seawater, and forces the water molecules across the membrane, which results in the molecules to be at the side of fresh water. The water produced is very pure at this stage. After this, the water is remineralised. After treatment, desalinated water is blended with treated water before it is supplied to homes and industries situated in the western part of Singapore.

Desalination process.

 Singspring is the first and only desalination plant in Singapore. This plant produces 136,380 m³ of desalinated water per day, which meets 10% of Singapore’s water needs.

This desalination plant uses the technology of reverse osmosis to transform salt water into water fit for human consumption. Singspring has the largest membrane which makes this plant the largest membrane-based seawater desalination plant in the world at the time of its completion.

This method is seen viable as Singapore is surrounded by seawater and desalinating seawater is a potential way to make use of your surroundings and seawater is an unlimited supply, with a steady flow. This method is also cost and energy efficient. Another deciding factor is that the membrane used for desalination is getting cheaper. Adding on, desalination does not rely on rain water to function properly.

~ Local Catchment Areas – Tap 3

This is also one of the many methods that they use to increase their water supply. They use their local reservoirs and catchment areas to provide water to households. Reservoirs are built to collect storm water. Singapore is a small island with less physical space hence, Singapore does not have natural aquifers and lakes; therefore, Singapore has little land available to build reservoirs to catch rain water.

Singapore needs to maximise whatever it can harvest. Singapore built many reservoirs that Singapore’s total catchment area is 2/3 of the whole island. The total catchment area in Singapore includes 19 raw water reservoirs, 32 major rivers, 9 treatment works and 17 service reservoirs to treat water. Over 7000 canal and drains are built to direct rain water into the reservoirs to provide us with drinking water. MacRitchie, Seletar and Pierce reservoirs are built so as to maximise the storage of storm water. They are also built to act as a tidal barrier to prevent flooding in low-lying city areas, for example, the Marina reservoir.

MacRitche.

The Marina Barrage also keeps the water levels constant and serves as a freshwater lake to aid in Singapore’s water supply. It also serves as a recreational spot and allows water-based activities to be held there. The marina Barrage is Singapore’s largest freshwater reservoir.

Marina Barrage.

This makes Singapore one of the few countries in the world to harvest urban storm water on a large scale for its water supply. Singapore also has two separate systems to collect rainwater and used water. Rainwater is collected through a comprehensive network of drains, canals, rivers, storm-water collection ponds and reservoirs before it is treated for drinking water supply. This makes Singapore one of the few countries in the world to harvest urban storm-water on a large-scale for its water supply.

Marina Reservoir.

Singapore has two separate systems to collect rainwater and used water. Rainwater is collected through a comprehensive network of drains, canals, rivers, storm-water collection ponds and reservoirs before it is treated for drinking water supply. This makes Singapore one of the few countries in the world to harvest urban storm-water on a large-scale for its water supply.

This method is seen viable as it makes use of natural resources such ask rain water and converts it into drinkable water for the Singapore population. The reservoirs also creates a barrier against floods into the city area which is very helpful to Singapore. This also makes use of unlimited sources.

~ Importing water – Tap 2

This is also one of the 4 methods that Singapore uses to increase their water supply successfully.

Although Singapore receives a high rainfall every year, Singapore’s small physical size and high population density which makes it a necessary to buy and import water from their neighbouring country, Malaysia. Also, Because of Singapore’s lack of physical space thus, the lack of natural resources such as water. They build a tunnel under the causeway connecting Singapore and Malaysia which allows the transportation of water from the city of Johor Bahru. The water transported comes from the reservoirs of Johor. This is of 2 agreements which are signed in the years 1961 and 1962, and both are expire on 2011 and 2061 respectively. Importing of water to Singapore allows Singapore to only risk of financial turmoil and not other things like environmental problems as Singapore only needs to build a tunnel to allow the water to be transported to Singapore.

Although Singapore imports water from Malaysia, Singapore also supplies treated water to Malaysia, specifically, Johor. Which in 1987, Malaysia takes about 14 percent of the 1 million cubic meters of water treated by Singapore each day.

For many years, Singapore has heavily relied on Malaysia’s imported water to supply half of Singapore’s water consumption. But now, it has been reduced to 40% as Singapore depended more on themselves instead, keeping in mind that they are independent and that they should increase self-reliance. If not, this may cause an over-reliance on other countries.

After the contracts have been expired, both countries may choose to continue with their agreement however, the price of the water may be cheap now, but in the years to come, the price of water may rise and it will have a toil on Singapore’s finance. Thus, the price of water being sold to Singapore may also cause a dispute amongst the countries.

~ Newater – Tap 1.

I find this method of increasing their water supply very amusing but very innovative as well. This method is using sewage water into water, able to be consumed. I shall explain this method in detail.

Newater is using sewage water, reclaimed by the Singapore’s public utilities and converting this water into drinkable water. They use unlikely resources such as dirty, down-the-toilet-bowl, water to make into water which is safe for human consumption. It makes the water go through stringent water purification methods to make the water clean and sparkling, ready for human consumption.

The waste water is first treated in the conventional waste water treatment which is the first barrier for removing as much solid content and sludge in the water as possible. Singapore’s six water reclamation plants will do the first stage of the process.

NEWater treatment process.

A percentage of the treated water would be already used by industries. The other percentage of water is then treated to be Newater. This water goes through 3 complex steps to make the water fit for human consumption. These 3 steps are microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet disinfection.

Microfiltration is when the treated water passes through fibres which are filters to block out the tiniest of dirt particles. At this stage, dirt particles are removed to ensure good quality water and to prevent clogging up at the next stage which is reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis is when the microfiltered water is applied pressure to flow through a partially permeable membrane which removes inorganic substances such as chloride and sulfate and organics such as disinfection by-products, pesticides and viruses. This membrane also removes 95 percent of total dissolved solids, which makes the water very clean.
Ultraviolet disinfection is a safety measure to remove the dirt particles which went through the membrane of reverse osmosis to ensure the purity of the water. Alkaline chemicals are also added to balance out the acidity level and Ph balance to ensure and confirm that the water is safe for human consumption.

Ultraviolet Disinfection System.

Newater is able to meet 30% of Singapore’s water requirements. This means that Newater plays a huge role in Singapore’s water supply. This also allows the Singapore government to find a way to use their unlimited supply of sewage water, using undrinkable water, to make water ready for human consumption. Some of the Newater is also blended with raw reservoir water.

~ 4 methods that they use to increase their water supply.

Our country is currently facing a severe water shortage, and to deal with this matter, the minister of water has sent my group to Singapore to find out what they have done to increase their water supply and how they deal with their water constraints. I have found out that Singapore uses 4 different but very useful methods to increase their water supply. They use water from their local catchments areas or reservoirs, from importing water, from having Newater and from desalinated water. These four methods that they use, they call it their 4 national taps. These 4 taps make up their water supply. I will go around visiting these places and finding out how they do it and find out which method is the best to overcome with our severe water shortage and maybe, increase our water supply as well.