{"id":202286,"date":"2025-12-26T05:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T05:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/202286\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T05:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T05:40:09","slug":"spore-mulls-sixth-desalination-plant-possibly-underground-to-boost-water-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/202286\/","title":{"rendered":"S\u2019pore mulls sixth desalination plant, possibly underground, to boost water security"},"content":{"rendered":"

SINGAPORE – The Republic is studying the feasibility of building a sixth desalination plant underground to boost the security of its water supply.<\/p>\n

National water agency PUB said on Dec 26 that a tender has been called for a study for such a facility.<\/p>\n

The study, which is expected to take about 10 months to complete, will assess the viability of a plant that can treat both seawater and freshwater like the Keppel <\/p>\n

Marina East Desalination Plant<\/p>\n

<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Such flexibility to switch between both kinds of water will enhance the resilience of Singapore\u2019s water supply to the weather, PUB said in its statement.<\/p>\n

Tender documents revealed that PUB is studying the option of developing the plant fully underground. <\/p>\n

This option will mean more space on the surface for recreational facilities or other infrastructure to be co-located at the same site.<\/p>\n

The fully underground desalination plant will be \u201cpushing the envelope beyond what was implemented for (Keppel) Marina East Desalination Plant\u201d, PUB said in the tender documents.<\/p>\n

The Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant, opened in February 2021, has treatment facilities underground, and a green rooftop constructed for community recreation.<\/p>\n

PUB said a site has been safeguarded for the potential plant – with its size estimated based on previous desalination plants built here – but did not reveal its location.<\/p>\n

Previous plants have occupied between 2.7ha, roughly the size of 3.5 football fields, and 14ha of land.<\/p>\n

The documents noted that nature groups could be engaged to shape the scope of an environmental impact assessment for the site at a later stage of the study. These assessments are typically implemented for development projects close to sensitive nature areas.<\/p>\n

Singapore\u2019s five existing desalination plants are located in coastal areas in Tuas, Jurong Island and Marina East.<\/p>\n

PUB said it will also be exploring multi-functional designs that maximise land-use and lower the new plant\u2019s footprint.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis considers lessons learnt from existing desalination plants, such as incorporating higher multi-storey buildings and deeper basements to house treatment facilities,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n

The study will entail the development of three plant design options, and assessments on their technical feasibility and economic viability.<\/p>\n

Apart from the underground design, the other two options being considered are a multi-storey building similar to Tuas South Desalination Plant, and a plant with a lower land footprint due to multiple levels and a deeper basement. <\/p>\n

The Jurong Island Desalination Plant is integrated with Tuas Power\u2019s Tembusu Multi-Utilities Complex, making it about 5 per cent more energy-efficient than conventional desalination plants.<\/p>\n

Both facilities share seawater intake and water-discharge facilities. The electricity generated in the Tuas Power complex also goes to the desalination facility. <\/p>\n

These features result in annual energy savings sufficient to power nearly 1,000 Housing Board households.<\/p>\n

The study will also analyse the potential for worsening raw water quality in the future and factor in any additional treatment processes required to cope with this impact.<\/p>\n

Singapore relies on four sources of water, two of which are dependent on how much rain falls over the catchment area. <\/p>\n

They include water imported from Malaysia\u2019s Johor River, which makes up the bulk of water used here, as well as rainwater captured in Singapore\u2019s waterways and reservoirs. <\/p>\n

But changing weather patterns due to climate change run the risk of disrupting the supply.<\/p>\n

The two more weather-resilient sources of water are recycled used water – dubbed NEWater – and desalination.<\/p>\n

The energy-intensive process of desalination produces drinking water by pushing seawater through membranes to filter out dissolved salts and minerals. Because of this, desalination is the most expensive way to produce water.<\/p>\n

Since desalination was first introduced in Singapore in 2005, the island-state has built five desalination plants.<\/p>\n

Earlier in December, PUB announced that Keppel Infrastructure Trust will continue operating Singapore\u2019s first large-scale desalination plan for another three years. The service contract for the SingSpring Desalination Plant had been due to expire in 2025. <\/p>\n

The agency previously said the plan is for recycled water and desalination to meet up to 85 per cent of Singapore\u2019s future water demand, which is set to double by 2065.<\/p>\n

Currently, Singapore\u2019s daily water demand is about 440 million gallons, which is sufficient to fill 800 Olympic-sized swimming pools.<\/p>\n

The Republic\u2019s desalination plants can meet up to 43 per cent of current water demand, with a total capacity of 190 million gallons of water.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Total water demand in Singapore is projected to rise on the back of its industrial growth. Non-domestic demand is expected to account for more than 60 per cent of water demand in 2065, up from the current 55 per cent. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, household water consumption has also inched upwards. In 2024, each resident used 142 litres of water a day, up from 141 litres in 2023. This was comparable to usage in 2017.<\/p>\n

Under the Singapore Green Plan 2030, the goal is to reduce household water consumption to 130 litres per person a day. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE – The Republic is studying the feasibility of building a sixth desalination plant underground to boost the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-202286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}