Wayne Chan Channel NewsAsia 19 May 12;
SINGAPORE: PUB, Singapore's national water agency, has helped develop a new automated system which uses fish to monitor water quality.
The system uses cameras to monitor the activity of freshwater tiger barbs, which is then analysed to detect signs of distress that could indicate a problem with the water.
There are 20 fish monitored in each system and if half of the fish die, a red alert will be triggered and the system will automatically collect a water sample for further testing.
PUB's technology department manager Elaine Quek said the automated system helps the agency monitor multiple locations at once without the need for much manpower.
"We don't really need to have someone staring at the fish tank or visually inspecting it all the time. It gives you a signal when something is wrong. So essentially, we don't have to put in so much manpower to monitor a number of installations," she said.
"All the different units are deployed at different places around Singapore, and the signals are all tied to one control centre. If something happens to the fishes in one of the units, the control centre gets an alert immediately.
"So you only need maybe four, five men at the control centre to monitor many installations around the island," she added.
There will be 42 such units deployed around Singapore by June, with the number to be increased to 105 units over the next few years.
Units will be installed in places where water is treated and passed into the distribution system. Locations include service reservoirs, waterworks, as well as critical locations such as the Causeway, Ms Quek said.
Each unit costs about US$20,000 to US$80,000 to set up.
The system is one of many water innovations to be showcased at the upcoming Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) in July, and is already reeling in business overseas with contracts of up to US$7 million expected over the the next three years.
ZWEEC Analytics, the company behind the system, said displaying it at the last Singapore International Water Week has helped it hook up with China's Water Resources ministry.
"SIWW has been a good platform for us to firstly, display our very first prototype, and then of course, we did a deployment with PUB and we drew a lot of attention from various countries," CEO Liaw Kok Eng said.
"We have already sold some units to Taiwan, and we also deployed some in China -- one is in Tianjin Eco City, the other one is in Wuhan, which is under the China Water Ministry."
Mr Liaw said the China projects are many times bigger than Singapore's implementation, with the China South-North Water Transfer Project involving about 2,500 monitoring stations.
ZWEEC Analytics is now in talks with India, which wants to use the system in its waste water treatment industry to monitor the quality of waste water before it is discharged into the environment.
- CNA/wm
