I got sick and tired of the recent PAP propaganda about the 4th Newater plant coming online and how we are now using Newater for 30% of our water needs. I did some simple checking and from what I can see, these are the numbers I arrived at.
Daily water consumption in S'pore is about 800 million gallons.
We pay 3 sen per 1,000 gallons of water from Malaysia and than resell a portion to them at 50sen per 1,000 gallon. The PAP has never indicated what the cost to us to purify the water to this stage. I would venture a guess that we are not losing any money selling it at 50 sen. Bare in mind that many of the pumping stations, pipes, and infrastructure for this source of water has now be depreciated over the last 40 years. There is no foreseable need for infrastructure needed under this current source. Also, it is mentioned that the Malaysian water accounts for 50% of the daily S'pore water needs.
On the other hand, brand new Newater plants must be constructed, at a cost of at least $180 million per plant. We have 4 already, need a few more. Cost for allthe Newater plants is like to exceed $1 billion. Than we need Desalination plants. What the cost is, I have no idea. I am sure it will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Even worse, desalination plants require land, more than the Newater plants. The land set aside for the Newater plants and the Desalination plants have some sort of opportunity cost. These land could be more useful or productive if a factory were to be build on them. Currently, most of the land requirements under our current water system is located in Johor. i.e. the water source, the pumping stations, pipelines, etc. Only the filtration plant is located in S'pore and that occupies but a fraction of the land that all the Newater and Desalinationplants will occupy.
In addition what is the cost to produce 1000 gallons of Newater versus 1000 gallons of water under the current system. My best estimate from what I can research is $2.75-$3 Sing. That is up to RM$7. Compare this with 50 sen that we are currently producing it for. Under this assumption, Newater will cost $1.2 million a day to produce, assuming that u only need to produce enough Newater (50%) to replace the Johor supply. That's $438 million a year. The production of Newater is further dependent on energy as electricity has to be used to run the plant, and create ultraviolet radiation. It also needs much more labour to operate it than the current system. These 2 factors will go up in the future, making Newater even more expensive.
Given all these factors, we should have renewed the water agreement. Even if the Malaysians want 100 times more (RM$3) per thousand gallon, it will still be much more cheaper than Newater or desalination. Just the over $1 billion we could have saved in infrastruction construction would have been worth it. I see this as a big failure on the part of Con you. He let his ego interfere and ended up in a pissing match with Madhatter. In the end, WE are the losers.
Daily water consumption in S'pore is about 800 million gallons.
We pay 3 sen per 1,000 gallons of water from Malaysia and than resell a portion to them at 50sen per 1,000 gallon. The PAP has never indicated what the cost to us to purify the water to this stage. I would venture a guess that we are not losing any money selling it at 50 sen. Bare in mind that many of the pumping stations, pipes, and infrastructure for this source of water has now be depreciated over the last 40 years. There is no foreseable need for infrastructure needed under this current source. Also, it is mentioned that the Malaysian water accounts for 50% of the daily S'pore water needs.
On the other hand, brand new Newater plants must be constructed, at a cost of at least $180 million per plant. We have 4 already, need a few more. Cost for allthe Newater plants is like to exceed $1 billion. Than we need Desalination plants. What the cost is, I have no idea. I am sure it will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Even worse, desalination plants require land, more than the Newater plants. The land set aside for the Newater plants and the Desalination plants have some sort of opportunity cost. These land could be more useful or productive if a factory were to be build on them. Currently, most of the land requirements under our current water system is located in Johor. i.e. the water source, the pumping stations, pipelines, etc. Only the filtration plant is located in S'pore and that occupies but a fraction of the land that all the Newater and Desalinationplants will occupy.
In addition what is the cost to produce 1000 gallons of Newater versus 1000 gallons of water under the current system. My best estimate from what I can research is $2.75-$3 Sing. That is up to RM$7. Compare this with 50 sen that we are currently producing it for. Under this assumption, Newater will cost $1.2 million a day to produce, assuming that u only need to produce enough Newater (50%) to replace the Johor supply. That's $438 million a year. The production of Newater is further dependent on energy as electricity has to be used to run the plant, and create ultraviolet radiation. It also needs much more labour to operate it than the current system. These 2 factors will go up in the future, making Newater even more expensive.
Given all these factors, we should have renewed the water agreement. Even if the Malaysians want 100 times more (RM$3) per thousand gallon, it will still be much more cheaper than Newater or desalination. Just the over $1 billion we could have saved in infrastruction construction would have been worth it. I see this as a big failure on the part of Con you. He let his ego interfere and ended up in a pissing match with Madhatter. In the end, WE are the losers.
