UPAAS visits NEWater

Article by Gmeleen Tomboc

Singapore has one of the world’s highest quality drinking water sources, and on a field trip last 20 April 2019, UPAAS members learned how wastewater is purified to become clean, potable water known as NEWater.

The group listened to lectures on concepts such as filtration and ultraviolet technologies, and tried out interactive exhibits showing ways to conserve water. An interesting piece of trivia was that the Public Utilities Board had actually built an experimental water reclamation plant as early as 1972, but they had to stop the project as water treatment technologies then were too expensive and unreliable. It was not until 1998, when the technology had became advanced enough, that they started building a prototype NEWater plant at Bedok. 

The NEWater field trip is among a series of educational and social events planned for 2019 by the University of the Philippines Alumni Association (Singapore).