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Reduce, reuse, recycle — can the same be done for water?
#ChallengeAccepted. With NEWater, we rise to the challenge of reusing every drop of water we have.
NEWater begins as used water — including from our toilets — that is diverted from sewers into deep tunnels through the Deep Tunnel Sewage System (DTSS). This, in turn, conveys the used water to water reclamation plants. This used water is quickly treated, before being channeled to NEWater facilities to be purified.
Thanks to our innovations, NEWater is famously clean: waste water is put through four barriers to remove impurities and be disinfected: conventional water treatment, microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet disinfection. As a result, it has passed more than 150,000 scientific tests and surpasses World Health Organisation (WHO) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for drinking water. In fact, it’s so clean that it’s used in industries such as water fabrication and power generation plants where high-grade, ultra-clean water is necessary.
While we don't usually drink NEWater, it does supplement our potable water supply. It is pumped to our reservoirs, and treated again with the collected rainwater for domestic use. By 2060, NEWater will provide for around 55% of our water consumption, compared to 40% in 2017. With NEWater, we keep the possibility of reusing water flowing. Instead of flushing our resources down the drain, we keep the cycle going. And as in the third of our Four National Taps, it helps make sure that we give ourselves options so our taps never run dry.