- SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Fancy
a glass of water recycled from sinks and toilets?
-
- That's the reality Singaporeans may soon face as the
city state searches for alternatives to cut its dependence on neighboring
Malaysia, which supplies half of its water.
-
- The Public Utilities Board is looking at the findings
of an international panel that has declared recycled water, or so-called
Newater, safe to drink. It is expected to deliver its recommendations to
the government in two months.
-
- Joan Rose, a microbiology expert from the United States
who sat on the panel, stressed the importance of education to help the
public get over squeamishness about drinking water that had once gurgled
down drains and whooshed round toilet bowls.
-
- "There is this 'yuck' factor," she told a news
conference on Tuesday.
-
- "It's really important that the monitoring and water
quality data are there for people to look at and to compare to what they
are currently getting."
-
- Two years of tests on recycled water produced at a Singapore
demonstration plant showed it was consistently of high quality and met
World Health Organization guidelines, the panel said.
-
- Some of the nine scientists and doctors demonstrated
their confidence by sipping bottles of Newater as reporters looked on.
-
- Resource-scarce Singapore is building two plants to produce
15 million gallons (68 million liters) of recycled water per day for industrial
use that will be ready by the end of the year.
-
- Newater pouring out of household taps may not be far
behind.
-
- Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said over the weekend
that recycled water was a "serious alternative" and would be
sufficient to replace the entire supply Singapore gets from Malaysia under
a 1961 agreement which expires in 2011.
-
- The government has also called a tender to build a desalination
plant.
-
- Water is the thorniest issue between the neighbors as
they cannot agree on pricing.
-
- Singapore now pays three Malaysian cents (less than one
U.S. cent) for every thousand gallons of water piped in but Malaysia wants
to make Singaporeans pay 100 times more within a few years.
-
- They are to hold a second round of talks next month after
seeing, and rejecting, each other's proposals last week.
-
- Rose said using recycled water to recharge reservoirs
before its treatment to produce drinking water had been in practice in
the United States for more than 20 years. Studies showed no evidence of
any adverse health effects, she added.
-
- Panel chairman Ong Choon Nam said his team would recommend
that Singapore use recycled water to replenish its reservoirs.
-
- "People are not very used to consuming reclaimed
water, so this is the main reason why we are introducing this Newater back
into the reservoirs -- to overcome the psychological barrier," he
said.
-
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