Business Times 21 Mar 09;
SINGAPORE needs to manage the higher amount of energy required to produce desalinated water compared with taking water from conventional sources, Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said yesterday.
'Although desalinated water and Newater have afforded enhanced water security, they are more energy intensive than conventional water sources,' he said at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul.
'Energy consumption in desalination and reclamation technologies has to be reduced to ease the trade-off between water and energy,' he added.
Singapore is looking at ways to reduce the energy cost through research and development. Examples include the use of membrane distillation and a variable salinity plant which could treat feed water of different salinity.
Singapore had to improve water management due to scarcity, said Dr Yaacob. 'To support the right attitudes, we do not subsidise it, and instead price it to reflect its scarcity.'
According to the Asia Pacific Water Forum, the region is the most vulnerable to water-related disasters. And with extreme events such as droughts and floods expected to increase, Dr Yaacob pointed out that Singapore is vulnerable. This is why almost 20 years ago new reclamation projects had to be built to a level of 1.25m above the highest recorded tide level, he said.
