Don’t know when we read that a Middle East Country towed a big iceberg from the South Pole for their drinking water, we laughed at them. Then we found out they also have many desalination plants also burning fuel oil to evaporate sea water into steams to generate fresh water. Then the oil was at less than USD$20/= per barrel but we were able to get our water supply from Johore for a song.
Since we separated from Malaysia in the 60s, Malaysia constantly threatened to cut off our water supply or raised the selling cost of the raw water. We begun to find alternatives. Quite sure our forefathers must have thought of those methods used by the Middle East countries and eventually, we found the membrane technology which is a cheaper and a more reliable technique to produce fresh water. We tested it and found it workable and continued to improve it.
Today, we are still not able to reduce much on the production cost of fresh water as cheap as those we can get from Johore even after we subsidized the supply to the Johoreans. However, we are able to supplement our water supply requirement which is increasing by the days. So far, we are lucky that we do not have water rationing in which we used to line up along the streets with few pails in our hands, waiting for PUB trucks to come, then carry them the pails all the way up to our living quarters, some about 14 storey high.
I am not sure whether we are considered lucky to be one of the pioneers applying and using membrane technology but many countries, including the US was praising us for using such a technology to solve our water supply shortage. Some even wanted to learn from us.
No matter if newater or the desalination plants will bankrupt us in the coming future, think it is still worth the while to have such facilities implemented; otherwise, we may have to resort drinking our own “urines” with little help from others.
The membrane technology is still in its progression stage, the cost will be cut by much when the technology matures and everyone is using it. I am quite convince that we are going in the right direction to solve our water shortage, no matter what cost we will have to pay.
Here are just some websites that we should read through if we want to understand why we have to resolve the water supply problem and if there is a chance that we will get it cheaper and cheaper to produce that litre of newater using the new technologies.
Thank you for reading..
http://singaporewater-nchs-itclub04.blogspot.sg/2005/08/history.html
http://www.earthmagazine.org/articl...r-science-and-psychology-wastewater-recycling
http://idadesal.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IDA-RD-Workshop-Combined-Presentations-Day-2.pdf