how the country’s wastewater became drinkable

Like many countries around the world, Singapore faces a massive lack of drinking water. Surrounded by the sea, the city-state has no exploitable groundwater, and must buy from its Malaysian neighbour. The city of 5.7 million inhabitants, however, intends to become almost self-sufficient. It has developed a recycling system. Singapore’s sewage water provides 40% of its current needs, while less than 1% of wastewater is recycled in France.

An ultra-sophisticated filtration system

Behind this recycled water, a public company: New Water. In this unit arrives the water of the toilets, the showers or the washing machines. “We treat them until they meet all the criteria for drinking water, and in fact, we go well beyond these standards”, says Dr. Adil Dhalla, Scientific Advisor to the National Water Agency of Singapore. The filtration system, worth several billion euros, contains in particular ultraviolet rays which destroy impurities.