We visited the NEWater plant in Bedok today as part of an initiative to bring about awareness of things uniquely Singapore.
NEWater is about recycling used/waste water into water that can be used again, either in the industries or even for subsequent drinking. The waste water is first processed to rid it of big particles and other unwanted elements somewhere else. Then it is sent for ultrafiltration to remove the larger remaining particles. Reverse osmosis is then used to extract the water out, and then it is sent for sterilisation using ultraviolet light.
Recycling our waste water reminds me of the stillsuits in Dune, in which the body's water is recovered and made ready to drink again. Frank Herbert, author of the series, really had good ideas on how to recover precious water from the environment. Another example is the windtrap, which tries to recover water from the air. Science fiction may one day become fact, though it may still be years before we see them.
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