Singapore’s fifth and largest NEWater wastewater reuse plant was officially opened by Singapore’s senior minister, Goh Chok Tong, on 3 May 2010.
The 228,000 m³/d Sembcorp NEWater Plant, together with the existing four plants, will enable NEWater to meet 30% of Singapore’s total water demand.
The completion of the entire facility marks two years of successful collaboration between Sembcorp Industries and Singapore’s national water agency, PUB, as well as with other partner companies and suppliers. The project was delivered in two phases over a two-year period, with an initial 69,000 m³/d phase beginning operations in 2009. The contract for the plant was awarded to Sembcorp in January 2008 by PUB under a public-private partnership initiative.
The Sembcorp NEWater Plant is probably the only large-scale water recycling plant in the world to be housed on top of a water reclamation plant – the PUB-owned Changi Water Reclamation Plant. This is a state-of-the-art used water treatment facility that collects and treats used water from the eastern half of Singapore.
The treated used water is then channeled to the Sembcorp NEWater Plant on its rooftop to be further purified into NEWater. This innovative plant-on-plant design facilitates large-scale water recycling, particularly in land-scarce Singapore.
The facility’s state-of-the-art microfiltration and reverse-osmosis systems are also designed for optimum energy consumption.