National water agency PUB will build a demonstration plant to test used water treatment technologies to be rolled out at the future Tuas Water Reclamation Plant.

Construction of the demonstration plant, located within PUB's existing Ulu Pandan Water Reclamation Plant, starts this month and will be done in February 2017.

The demonstration plant will have a capacity of 12,500 cubic m a day, a fraction of the 800,000 cubic m of used water treated daily at the existing Changi Water Reclamation Plant.

While its capacity is relatively small, the fully automated demonstration plant will have all the functions of a typical water reclamation plant.

It will test new water treatment technologies, such as the use of a unique type of bacteria to remove fine particles in used water. It will also be used to train operators of the new technologies.

Mr Harry Seah, PUB's chief technology officer, said in a press release yesterday: "These new and tested technologies will enable Tuas Water Reclamation Plant to be more eco-friendly, produce less sludge and have the capability of producing more biogas for power, while consuming less energy than conventional plants."

The Tuas Water Reclamation Plant, whose completion date has not been confirmed, is a key part of Phase 2 of the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System, an extension of the underground "super highway" carrying Singapore's waste water through sloped tunnels to used water treatment plants.

To be ready by 2022, the extension will carry used water from western Singapore - including the city area - to the Tuas plant, where the water will be treated before it is pumped out to sea or reclaimed as Newater, with the purified water mainly for industrial use.