NEWater, Singapore?s high-quality reclaimed water, shone again on the world stage when it clinched the title ?Environmental Contribution of the Year? at the Global Water Awards 2008 ceremony on Monday night in London.
This is the second award received by PUB, Singapore?s national water agency, from the award organiser, Global Water Intelligence (GWI). In 2006, PUB was named the Water Agency of the Year in Dubai.
You may first wonder how come this article is being posted in this Chemistry Blogsite?
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1st Reason – I am proud as a Singaporean that a Singapore 1st – kind of project has gotten its deserved recognition
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2nd Reason -Proces in?NEWater is in fact what you are learning right now in?Purification &? Separation chapter
The production of NEWater essentially consists of?3 main steps:
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Use of microfiltration/ultrafiltration to filter out suspended solids, colloidal particles, disease-causing bacteria and?some viruses. The filtered water that goes through the membrane contains only dissolved salts and organic molecules.
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Utilizes?Reverse Osmosis where?a semi-permeable membrane filters out undesirable contaminants such as bacteria, viruses,?heavy metals, nitrates, sulphates, chlorides, ?disinfection by-products, aromatic hydrocarbons, and pesticides that cannot pass through the membrane. Hence, NEWater is free from viruses and bacteria and contains very low levels of salts and organic matter. At this stage, the water is of a very high quality.
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Involve?Ultra-Violet disinfection which is used to ensure that all organisms are inactivated and the purity of the product water guaranteed. With the addition of some alkaline chemicals to restore the pH balance, the NEWater is ready for use.
(Filter Membrane’s Image by Amsk)
Now, can you see how powerful the simple?”Filtration” that you are learning in classrooms and doing in the practicals, can be in shaping the survival and lifestyle of humankind. Perhaps one day you might be the chemists that is receiving the awards for inventing a more powerful Filter Membrane that can help to produce water of highest quality.
PS: You can catch the Treatment Process of NEWatwer here.
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