SINGAPORE - To spur more companies to watch their water usage and recycle the scarce resource, national water agency PUB will raise its funding for water recycling projects to a maximum of $5 million from July 1, up from $1 million.
This increased funding is among several ways the agency’s Water Efficiency Fund will enhance sustainable water management in the non-domestic sector, which is expected to account for more than 60 per cent of Singapore’s water demand by 2065.
The sector, which includes office buildings, hotels and manufacturing facilities, currently uses 55 per cent of the Republic’s water demand. Singapore’s water demand is set to double by 2065.
In another change from July, PUB will fund 70 per cent of a company’s efforts to identify water-saving areas, to a cap of $30,000. The current co-funding is 50 per cent.
The enhancements to the Water Efficiency Fund were announced by Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu on Monday at the opening of the three-day Singapore International Water Week Spotlight 2023 conference.
Speaking at the Paradox Singapore Merchant Court hotel, Ms Fu noted that raising the funding cap for large-scale water recycling projects to $5 million will encourage businesses to undertake bigger and more ambitious water conservation projects.
PUB added that the raised funding will also allow businesses to improve their payback period, which is the number of years required to recover their original investment.
Any non-domestic premises with a monthly water consumption of at least 1,000 cubic m will be eligible for the funding for recycling projects.
The implemented project should result in at least 10 per cent in water savings or 6,000 cubic m of water saved a year.
Ms Fu said: “We are always exploring ways to maximise the reclamation and reuse of every drop of water. Used water is a precious resource that can be recycled endlessly to fortify our water resilience.”
PUB also offers technical support to help companies here identify water-saving opportunities and match them with technology providers.
In addition, funding will be raised for pilot studies of water-saving projects by companies from $50,000 to $150,000. This will benefit smaller businesses and less water-intensive sectors, added the agency.
Asked about the challenges businesses might face in implementing water-saving projects, PUB director of water supply network department Ridzuan Ismail told reporters that space was a primary concern for most of these industries.
Finally, businesses that intend to start innovative solutions to treat and reclaim fresh water from industrial used water can also get more funding from the Industrial Water Solutions Demonstration Fund, when the cap is raised from $4 million to $5 million.
The Water Efficiency Fund, which was started in 2007, has provided funding for companies to implement water recycling, adopt innovative technologies for water conservation, and conduct studies to identify water-saving opportunities in their operations.
To date, 375 applications have received grants from PUB, and those projects, when fully implemented, would result in 70 million litres of water saved a day.
Marina Bay Sands received grant money in 2016 to set up infrastructure to collect and recycle water from 4,000 air-conditioning units across its three hotel towers. This condensate water recovery solution saves an average of 70,000 litres of water a day.
The recycled water is used for exterior landscaping, to irrigate plants and for water display features on the property.
Hotel Laundry, which provides laundry services to more than 30 hotels, used its funding from PUB in 2017 to install a simple filtration system to recycle wastewater back to the washers to be used as pre-rinse water.
“The company was able to achieve a 30 per cent recycling rate, with up to 60 million litres of water savings a year,” said Ms Fu.
From 2024, new projects in the water-intensive wafer fabrication, electronics and biomedical industries must meet water recycling requirements.
PUB will also in 2024 present the Singapore Watermark Awards as the highest honour for achievements in water conservation. The Water Efficiency Awards, to be presented in the same year, will be expanded to recognise innovative projects that help organisations improve how efficiently they use water.
“Such recognition is also very much valued with the increasing emphasis on ESG (environmental, social and governance) stewardship and sustainability practices for many companies,” she added.
Ms Fu said experts have warned that the looming El Nino weather phenomenon, which brings hotter and drier conditions to South-east Asia, could induce drought and drive up food prices. Changes in global temperature have wide-ranging consequences for water, including changes in rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts and sea level rise.
“The water crisis may be the most critical climate crisis,” warned Ms Fu.
During the last major El Nino cycle in 2016, water levels in Linggiu Reservoir, Singapore’s main water source in Malaysia, plunged to a historic low of 20 per cent of its healthy levels.
