How Singapore is using technology to solve its water shortage

Singapore (CNN Business) Singapore uses about 430 million gallons of water every day — a
number it expects could double in the next four decades.

That kind of consumption is piling pressure on the Asian city state to address growing concerns
about global water scarcity. So it's building new technology to prepare itself for a future where
obtaining clean water will be even more difficult.
"Singapore truly has become a global water hub," said Shane Snyder, executive director of the
Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute at Singapore's Nanyang Technological
University. "But as it stands, it imports approximately 40% of its water today. And with climate
change, that water has become far less dependable."
Rapid urbanization and rising global temperatures are making access to natural water sources
increasingly hard to come by. Today, a quarter of the world lives in areas of high water stress.
Experts say we're consuming natural resources faster than the earth can replenish them.
Singapore, meanwhile, is home to more than five million people and is
covered in fountains, reservoirs and other water features — including the
world's tallest indoor waterfall, a 130-foot Rain Vortex that pumps 10,000
gallons of water per minute. But it has no natural water sources of its own,
instead relying heavily on recycled water and imports from its neighbors.

Singapore is home to the world's tallest indoor waterfall, which pumps 10,000 gallons of water per
minute.
Snyder's research facility is one of several places developing solutions for Singapore's water
dependency. The hope is to create projects that could be used across the city.
"What we have become used to as reliable water, may quickly change — so we have to be
prepared, we have to be thinking about the infrastructure in advance," Snyder said. "There's a big
drive to become water independent — to control our own future — and that is largely dependent
on the technologies we're developing."
One development: a small, black sponge called carbon fiber aerogel that the university says can
clean waste water on a mass scale. The sponge absorbs 190 times its weight in waste,
contaminants and microplastics.
The material is being further developed for commercial use by Singapore-based
startup EcoWorth Technology. CEO Andre Stoltz said the company will first enter Singapore's
waste water market before eventually developing this material for use on a global scale.
"We believe it's potential impact is very big," Stoltz said, adding that the product allows the
company "to convert waste products to something of worth."

EcoWorth Tech says carbon-fiber aerogel can remove 190 times its weight in waste, contaminants
and microplastics.
Another company, WateRoam, is already taking innovation from Singapore to the rest of the
region. Founded in 2014, WateRoam says it has developed a lightweight, portable filtration
device that they say has already provided clean drinking water to more than 75,000 people across
Southeast Asia.
WateRoam CEO David Pong said one of the most innovative aspects of the product is its
simplicity.
"We're going with a no-frills approach because we're looking at water as a basic problem and a
basic commodity ... and as a result, we needs basic technology to solve this problem," Pong said.
"We want people who are laymen — not specialists or engineers — to be able to pick up this
product and intuitively know how to use it."
The water filtration device is no bigger than a bicycle pump, yet it can provide clean water to
villages of 100 people for up to two years, according to the company.

WateRoam's filtration device is designed to be as simple as possible.

"We've been very blessed to have access to clean drinking water," Pong said. "It's a privilege that
we should be able to bring forth to the rest of the region, and advocate that clean water is an
essential aspect for life on earth."
Water-stressed Singapore bets on new technology to secure supply

A host of start-ups discover alternative ways to purify water.

PETER GUEST, Contributing writerAPRIL 22, 2019 15:31 JST

Singapore is preparing to seize control of the country's biggest desalination plant, Tuaspring, on May 17. (Photo
provided by Singapore Public Utilities Board)

SINGAPORE -- André Stolz calls his company's feature product a "super-absorbent" sponge:
a carbon-fiber filter made from recycled paper and cotton that can suck oil or industrial
contaminants out of water.

The company, EcoWorth, a start-up spun out of the Nanyang Technology University, three
years ago, has so far raised around $1 million through grants, angel investments and
bootstrapping to help commercialize its 'carbon fiber aerogel' technology.

After a series of successful trials, the company is looking for fresh funding to take the
technology to scale and tap into an expected surge in demand for new water purification
technology as Hyflux, the operator of the city-state's biggest desalination plant, teeters on the
brink of liquidation.
The Singapore government announced last week that it will have to seize control of Singapore's
largest desalination plant on May 17 in order to secure the country's water supply.

The demise of the once high-flying homegrown company, as well as a spat over prices with
Malaysia which supplies around 40 per cent of Singapore's water needs, has brought Singapore's
perennial water shortage problems into sharp focus.

"Singapore wants to be independent from Malaysia and have independent water management,"
said Stolz, who hopes that this will lead to the government putting more pressure on businesses
to conserve and treat their wastewater, which will in turn create opportunities for startups like
EcoWorth. "We are seeing that the legislation is tightening and the [Public Utilities Board] is
pushing back for industries to install their own wastewater treatment. That is the market for us to
go into.''

A bugbear for Singapore leaders since it broke away from Malaysia in 1965 -- state-sponsored
television adverts and radio jingles urge citizens to save water -- the government has invested
heavily in a "four national taps" strategy.

With two-thirds of the island designated as water catchment areas, rainwater-- the first of the
"taps" -- is collected in 17 reservoirs. That reserve is supplemented by the second tap,
wastewater, which is treated in one of the country's five "NEWater" plants.

But the last two taps -- desalinated seawater and water imported from Malaysia -- are now
looking somewhat creaky.

Following his surprise election win last May, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has a
notoriously prickly relationship with Singapore, branded as "morally wrong" a 1962 treaty under
which Malaysia agreed to pipe up to 1.1 billion liters of water per day across the border at less
than $0.002 per 1,000 liters.

At the same time, the cost of running Singapore's water system has increased almost threefold
since the turn of the century, according to the Public Utilities Board, which is responsible for
managing the water supply, and those costs are now being passed on to consumers. In its 2017
budget, the government announced a 30 percent hike in water bills, the first such increase since
2000.

"What Singapore doesn't want is to stop growing, development-wise and economically, because
they don't have water," Cecilia Tortajada, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Water Policy
at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, told Nikkei.

The need to find new ways to control domestic water resources and to reduce treatment costs has
meant that Singapore and its water utility are uniquely open to innovation, Tortajada said, adding
that the PUB currently runs incubators, innovation competitions, and also sponsors academic
research in a constant search for new ideas.

In response, industry is rising to meet that demand.

Blue Ocean Memtech, another NUS spinout, is working to commercialize a new nanofiltration
membrane that could, according to founder Fu Feng-Jiang, significantly reduce the cost of
treating water. Fu hopes that the technology could be commerialized within a few years.

Having already applied for funding to develop another new type of membrane, and with his eye
on several other technologies, Fu said many people were starting to realize that the water
business has a bright future in Singapore. "In my mind I have a few technologies I want to
commercialize," he said.

Others are using the country's developing water technology ecosystem as a springboard to build
solutions for entirely different markets.

Wateroam, founded by three university undergraduates in 2014, has built highly portable water
filters, operated by a hand pump, which can supply clean water to remote communities and
disaster zones.

The company's technology has already been deployed in more than 20 countries, and used by
relief organisations responding to humanitarian crises across Asia. It's also found a small but
relatively lucrative market among "preppers" -- mostly Americans worried about the apocalypse.
"We grew up in a relatively developed city where we open our taps every day and get clean
drinking water," co-founder Lim Chong Tee said. "We felt that Singapore being an innovation
hub we should really do more, we should help more people."

Startup entrepreneurs point out that there are still gaps in the ecosystem, notably the availability
of finance to take innovations from pilot to full commercial scale. But that may change as the
challenges of water scarcity in Singapore and around the world become more acute.

"Water, relative to its utility, is unbelievably cheap," said Tom Ferguson, vice president of
programming at Imagine H2O, a US water-tech accelerator that recently opened a program in
Asia.

The "existential" challenge in places like Singapore, Ferguson said, changes that calculation.
"Singapore has an opportunity to really build an industry out of this."

Turning Isolation into Opportunity

The international hub is turning less into more
This international port city is no stranger to shifting tides. With limited land to collect and store
rainwater, Singapore has faced drought, floods and water pollution in their early years of nation
building. These challenges inspired Singapore to strategize and seek innovative ideas thereby
developing capabilities and securing a sustainable supply of water.
Currently, Singapore has built a robust and diversified supply of water from 4 different sources:
water from local catchments, imported water, NEWater (high-grade reclaimed water) and
desalinated water. Both NEWater and desalinated water have allowed Singapore to become more
resilient towards weather variability and keep up with the growing demand for water resources.
By 2060, the total water demand could almost double, with the non-domestic sector accounting
for nearly 70%. By then, NEWater and desalination will meet up to 85% of Singapore’s future
water demand.

Main challenges

 No natural water resources

 Rising demand for water
 Sustinability
Main solutions

 Source diversification: NEWater and Desalinated water

 Water demand management
 Investing in research and technology

Singapore’s Water Strategy

Through the years, PUB has embarked on an integrated, effective and cost-efficient way to meet
the nation’s water needs with investments in research and technology to treat, recycle and supply
water. Today, Singapore is internationally recognised as a model city for water management and
an emerging Global Hydrohub – a leading centre for business opportunities and expertise in
water technologies.
PUB’s holistic approach to water management can be refined into three key strategies:
1. Collect Every Drop: As a city-state with limited land for rainwater collection, it is important to
make every drop of rain count. PUB plans to increase Singapore’s water catchment from two-
thirds to 90% of the nation’s land area. With separate rainwater and used water collection
systems, good land use planning policies and strong environmental controls, the collected
rainwater is protected from pollution.
2. Reuse water endlessly: Recycling water is the most sustainable and cost-effective way to
increase Singapore’s water supply. To increase the recycling rate, PUB plans to (i) Reclaim used
water from industrial sources for non-potable use; (ii) Increase water recovery from water
reclamation and NEWater treatment; and (iii) Reduce losses from PUB’s supply by encouraging
seafront companies to use seawater for cooling processes.
3. Desalinate more seawater: As an island surrounded by the sea, desalination is a natural option
for Singapore. PUB will continue investing in R&D to further improve the economic viability of
desalinating seawater.

Case Study: NEWater

NEWater, a pillar of Singapore’s water sustainability strategy, is high-grade reclaimed water.
Produced from treated used water that is further purified using advanced membrane technologies
and ultra-violet disinfection, it is ultra-clean and safe to drink. NEWater has passed more than
150,000 scientific tests and is well within World Health Organisation requirements.
Twice a year, NEWater undergoes rigorous audit processes by an external audit panel
comprising international experts in engineering, water chemistry, toxicology and microbiology.
This high-grade reclaimed water has consistently been awarded top marks for its high quality,
safety and for exceeding international standards.
4 Levels of Action - Singapore’s Progress Towards the Principles
-Regenerative Water Services

-Water Sensitive Urban Design

-Basin Connected Cities
-Water-Wise Communities

5 Building Blocks - Singapore’s Progress Towards the Principles

Vision
Ensuring an efficient, adequate & sustainable supply of water.
Governance
All aspects of water management handled by one Government agency – PUB, Singapore’s
national water agency, and under the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources. This allows
optimisation of the whole system.
URA as the central planning authority that integrates urban planning across the various sectors of
water, waste, transport , architecture and landscaping.
Knowledge & Capacity
Enhance local and international knowledge sharing and capacity building with the launch of the
Singapore Water Academy.
PUB organizes the Singapore International Water Week, a global platform to share and co-create
innovative water solutions.
Planning Tools
Water Master Plan, long term plan to ensure water supply is sufficient for projected demands.
URA’s Master Plan translates the long term strategies of the Concept Plan, integrating water
considerations.
Implementation Tools
Pricing water to recover both the full cost of its production and supply.
Various legislation and schemes to encourage water conservation.
People-Private-Public approach for public education and community relations, to bring the
populace on board PUB’s mission
Continued investments in the future, through research funding from the National Research
Foundation.
Build a strong industry ecosystem to support PUB’s mission.