In the deepest place of Singapore

Visited Singapore's Changi Water Reclamation Plant today. Had the opportunity to go about 50m underground to see the deepest place in Singapore, the equivalent of a HDB flat height but into the ground. This is where a set of influent pumps are located, pumping incoming sewerage to the reclamation plant. The Changi Water Reclamation Plant (CWRP) is the heart of Singapore's latest engineering feat - Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS).

The DTSS is a water superhighway that collects all used water i.e. sewerage into a centralized system for treatment, reclamation and disposal. Huge pipes located deep into the ground (even below the MRT lines) lead to the CWRP. At the CWRP, huge pumps (3.3kV/ 3.5MW each) pump the sewerage to ground level where they are treated. Treated water can then be processed into NEWater or disposed to the sea via outfall pipes. Solid waste from the treatment process are sent to incineration plants.

The CWRP is a state-of-the-art used water treatment plant capable of treating 800,000 cubic meters of used water a day. That's equivalent to 320 olympic size swimming pools!

Water resources and conservation is a largely ignored industry in most countries, including Malaysia. Some have predicted that if left unchecked, many countries in the world will be faced with severe water shortages and contamination in years to come. Even in water-abundant countries like Malaysia, Klang Valley is expected to face severe water problems in a few years time and it is no help that the ongoing water restructuring in Selangor has failed.

And our sewerage and drainage systems still leave much to be desired. I was surprised to see the untreated incoming water of the CWRP actually looked quite clear by Malaysian standards. I'm sure our untreated sewerage would look more like kopi-O. In fact, some of our household waters look worse than Singapore's sewerage water!!