Embargoed until 30 Jun 2010
Accolades for PUB’s Marina Barrage and Variable Salinity Plant
Singapore’s national water agency, PUB clinches Design and Applied Research awards at 2010 International Water Association’s Asia Pacific Regional Project Innovation Awards
National water agency, PUB’s Marina Barrage and Variable Salinity Plant have emerged as winners of the 2010 International Water Association’s (IWA) Asia Pacific Regional Project Innovation Awards in the Design and Applied Research categories respectively.
With no natural aquifers and lakes as well as little land to collect rainwater, Singapore’s strategy has been to create estuarine reservoirs by damming major rivers. The Marina Reservoir, together with the newly completed Punggol and Serangoon Reservoirs are probably the last of these estuarine reservoirs.
With all the major rivers already dammed to create reservoirs, the next step for Singapore to collect every drop of rain is to tap the minor catchments. PUB has pioneered a technology known as the Variable Salinity Plant to harness water from the remaining streams and rivulets near the shoreline. Due to their small sizes, it is not feasible to create conventional reservoirs out of these streams and rivulets.
The Variable Salinity Plant and Marina Barrage which creates the Marina Reservoir are shining examples of PUB’s innovative solutions to meet the country’s challenge in ensuring water sustainability. Apart from augmenting Singapore water supply, the Marina Barrage also helps in flood control and offers a host of recreational possibilities such as boating and wind surfing.
PUB was presented with the awards at the 2010 IWA’s Asia Pacific Regional Project Innovation Awards Ceremony and Dinner during Singapore International Water Week on 30 June 2010.
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About Marina Barrage
Marina Barrage was officially opened on 31 Oct 2008 by Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. A milestone project in the nation’s integrated water management, Marina Barrage has created the Marina Reservoir, Singapore’s 15th reservoir and first reservoir in the city. Together with the new Punggol and Serangoon Reservoirs, Marina Reservoir will increase Singapore water catchment areas from half to two-thirds of the nation’s land areas. In addition to boosting Singapore’s water supply by 10%, the barrage has helped to alleviate flooding in the low-lying city areas and become a hot spot for recreational activities.
About Variable Salinity Plant
The Variable Salinity Plant at Tampines Canal is a 1.5MGD demonstration plant pioneered by PUB to harness water from estuarine catchments. It treats the surface runoff that is stored in the canal behind an inflatable rubber weir when available and switches to treating seawater when the canal is dry, thus allowing high plant utilisation. By carefully designing the process control to operate over a wide range of pressure from that of freshwater (7 bar) to that of seawater (50 bar), the same set of membranes can switch between treating water of widely different salinities. With this new technology, PUB aims to increase the total catchment area in Singapore to about 90%. The plant has consistently produced high-quality water that meets WHO guidelines and USEPA standards for drinking water.
About PUB
PUB is a statutory board under the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. It is the national water agency, managing Singapore’s water supply, water catchment and used water in an integrated way. PUB won the 2007 Stockholm Industry Water Award and was named Water Agency of the Year at the Global Water Awards 2006.
About PUB’s tagline: Water for All: Conserve, Value, Enjoy
PUB has ensured a diversified and sustainable supply of water for Singapore with the Four National Taps (local catchment water, imported water, NEWater, desalinated water).
To provide water for all, PUB calls on all Singaporeans to play our part to conserve water, keep our water catchments and waterways clean and build a relationship with water so we can enjoy our water resources. We can then have enough water for all uses – for industry, for living, for life.
28 June 2010
