Evaluation of four national taps

In conclusion I find that desalinated water is a more reliable method as we do not need to depend on weather, countries to provide us with water and factors.

Firstly we should choose desalinated water rather than local catchment area as we do know that local catchment area has low control to drought so if we rely too much on the weather and when there is a drought there is about nothing we can actually do to help so local catchment area is not much reliable but during drought desalinated water can guarantees there is always clean water. 

Secondly why we should choose desalinated water rather than local catchment area, If we have too much local catchment area it takes up a big piece of land this could affect the growth of the country but desalinated plants is a size of a warehouse this can make sure to us that it will normally be situated in an area more closer to the industrial facilities and away from large residential area so this will more likely not affect the growth of the country.

Thirdly why we should choose desalinated water rather than local catchment area, local catchment is inadequate to cover one countries needs but each desalination plant can supply up to 500 million of water.

Fourth why we should choose desalinated water rather than international agreement, we all know that if the country that’s is supplying us with water wants to drop the agreement they can do it even though they may need to pay us an amount of money but we have little control over their governments decision. So from this we do know that international agreement is not dependable and reliable as compare to desalinated water as the source comes from the sea and the sea is always there.

Fifth why we should choose desalinated water rather than international agreement, even though we know that desalinated water is expensive but also water supplied by other countries is also expensive as they could raise the price of the water they supplied to us anytime.  Despite the fact that they supply us with raw water, those raw water will still need to go through some treatment before we can use and the treatments for water is costly and we may have to supply them back as a favour hence overall its not a good move.

Sixth why we should choose desalinated water rather than NEWater, people might not be able to accept that NEWater is made of our sewage and the reuse of our water when drinking even though desalinated water comes from the sea and it is also not really clean but we would not find it that disgusting as compares NEWater. 

Desalination

The 4^th national tap that help Singapore increase water supply is to desalinate water through technology. Desalination is a process which removes salt from sea water. The most important process of desalination is the reverse osmosis; it uses a high pressure to force salty water through a semi-permeable membrane. After the water have pass through it will left with purified water and a concentrated salt. Other process is distillation, it is a process whereby the water is boiled and water vapour is collected and condensed into fresh water. Each day the plant can supply up to 500 million liters of water.  

 The advantages is it guarantees that in a drought there is always clean water, improves fish habitat, desalination plants are the size of a warehouse and will be situated in an area close to other industrial facilities and away from large residential areas. The most important advantage is that we do not need to depend on other countries or weather to supply water.

However, its disadvantage is that it uses up a lot of energy so it is costly. The critics also believe that it emits green house gases which will be harmful to the environment. Also people might not be able to get use to the taste of the water as most of the nutrients are remove from the water.

Photo Source: http://www.usbr.gov/lc/yuma/facilities/images/rodiagram.png                                                        Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u54T7hbR_R4

NEWater

The 3^rd national tap that helps Singapore increase the water supply is the NEWater. NEWater and desalination were explored as means to reduce reliance on water imported from Malaysia. In 2001, PUB began an effort to increase water supplies for non-potable use. Using NEWater for these applications would reduce the demand on the reservoirs for potable water. The water will go through the first barrier; it is process whereby the used water is treated in the Water Reclamation Plant. The second barrier uses microfiltration to filter out suspended solids, colloidal particles, disease-causing bacteria, some viruses and protozoan cysts. The filtered water that goes through the membrane now contains only dissolved salts and organic molecules. The third barrier is reverse osmosis; it is a semi-permeable membrane filters out undesirable contaminants 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 already of potable quality. The fourth barrier, acts as a safety precaution. UV disinfection 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.

The advantage is that it’s reliable as it does not need to depend on weather or other countries.

However, its disadvantage is that the price to maintain the whole factory is very high and people might not be used to the taste as it undergoes some processes so most of the waters used in industries that requires high purified water.

            
              Text Source: http://www.pub.gov.sg/water/newater/newatertech/Pages/default.aspx

Photo Source:http://singaporecity360.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/NEWaterVisitorCentre_0.jpg

Video Source:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1rb13g6dTU

International Agreement

Imported water is the 2^nd national tap that helps Singapore increases the water supply. It is to have an agreement with countries that have an abundant supply of water.  Called the Johor River Water Agreement, it was signed on 29 September 1962 between the Singapore city council and the Johor state government. Valid for 99 years up till 2061, it gave Singapore the full and exclusive right to draw water from Johor River up to a maximum of 250 million gallons per day (1.14 million cubic metres a day). In return, Johor was entitled to a daily supply of treated water from Singapore up to 2% of the raw water it supplied. The Independence of Singapore Agreement (also known as the Separation Agreement) signed between the governments of Singapore and Malaysia on 9 August 1965 guaranteed the 1961 and 1962 water agreements. This was signed on 24 November 1990 between the Public Utilities Board (PUB) of Singapore and the Johor state government. It was supplementary to the 1962 pact and would also expire in 2061. The advantage is that it’s convenient and cheap in comparison with NEWater and Desalination.

 However, its disadvantage is that it’s unreliable as compared with other water sources as Johor might not want to provide Singapore with water without notice.

Source: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1533_2009-06-23.html

Local Catchment Areas

The 1^st national tap is the local catchment areas which help Singapore increase the water supply. It is expanding local catchment area, local catchment area is the collection of rainwater through a network of drains, canal, rivers and storm water collection pond before being channeled to Singapore’s reservoir. The total Singapore catchment area has occupied up to 2/3 of Singapore’s land surface.

The advantage of local catchment area is cheap as it does not require much treatment, and it is much cleaner than seawater and reuse water. It can also be used as a recreation.

However, its disadvantage it takes up a big piece of land, it also has little control to drought. It is inadequate to cover Singapore’s water needs.

Text Source: http://www.pub.gov.sg/water/Pages/LocalCatchment.aspx

Photo Source:http://lms.asknlearn.com/EdulearnNETUpload/coral_ss/learningobject/File/0c432eb0-3154-4aba-286b-0c4071d152be/BT_IMAGES_UMWATER2920120410011549.jpg

Photo Source: http://www.ppcb.gov.in/rwhs_clip_image002.jpg