S'pore's 4th desalination plant begins operations
It can treat both fresh water and seawater, meet the demands of 200,000 households
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant has nearly 20,000 sq m of open green rooftop space for community activities and recreation. It accounts for about 7 per cent of Singapore’s daily water demand of 430 million gallons.
PHOTO: PUB
Lester Wong
Follow topic:
Singapore's fourth desalination plant, which can produce about 30 million gallons of fresh drinking water a day, has begun commercial operations, said national water agency PUB yesterday.
This amount of water is equivalent to the water demands of about 200,000 households, and accounts for about 7 per cent of Singapore's daily water demand of 430 million gallons.
The Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant, which officially started operations on June 29, is the Republic's first large-scale plant able to treat both fresh water and seawater.
In dry weather, the plant draws water from the sea to produce desalinated water.
When it rains, the plant will instead use rainwater collected in Marina Reservoir to make potable water, which requires less energy and fewer steps in the treatment process compared with desalination.
This will strengthen Singapore's water supply resilience in the face of increasingly dry weather conditions caused by climate change, PUB said.
PUB chief executive Ng Joo Hee said desalination is one of Singapore's four national taps, alongside imports, rainfall and recycled water, but unlike the other three, it is a "practically limitless source".
"The plant's completion is also eagerly awaited because it is such a special facility: A dual-purpose desalination plant in the middle of our city, integrated with parkland, accessible to the public, and a beautiful piece of architecture," he added.
The new desalination plant is located along the stretch of the Eastern Coastal Park Connector Network that bridges East Coast Park and Gardens by the Bay East.
It features nearly 20,000 sq m of open green rooftop space for community activities and recreation, with the space freed up by situating treatment facilities underground.
Last October, the Marina East plant became the first industrial plant here to be given PUB's ABC Waters Certification (Gold) award for its design features.
Keppel Infrastructure subsidiary Marina East Water, which has a 25-year concession period, will operate the plant from this year to 2045. Keppel also operates the Ulu Pandan Newater plant.
Keppel Infrastructure CEO Ong Tiong Guan said the company faced some "inevitable challenges" while completing the final lap of testing amid the Covid-19 pandemic owing to reduced manpower.
"The commencement of operations is a testament to Keppel's can-do spirit and resilience, as we worked closely with PUB and our contractors to overcome these challenges and deliver a successful project," Dr Ong added.
Singapore's three other desalination plants are the SingSpring, Tuas South and Tuas plants, which began operations in 2005, 2013 and 2018 respectively. Including the new plant, the four plants now have a combined capacity of 160 million gallons of water a day.
