Considerations for Singapore’s Sixth Desalination Plant: Insights from Assoc Prof Darren Sun
Singapore is studying the possibility of building a sixth desalination plant underground to boost the security of its water supply.
National water agency PUB said on Dec 26 that a tender has been called for a study for such a facility. This study will assess the viability of a plant that can treat both seawater and fresh water.
Such flexibility to switch between both kinds of water would enhance the resilience of Singapore’s water supply to the weather, PUB said in its statement.
Associate Professor Darren Sun Delai from NTU’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering said that with Singapore’s mean sea levels projected to rise up to 1.15m by the century’s end, seawater is increasingly threatening to intrude into low-lying freshwater bodies and reservoirs, compromising drinking water quality.
“Warmer ocean temperatures lead to increased algae and plankton growth, which can lower the filtration efficiency of existing desalination plants or increase desalination pre-treatment cost,” he added, noting that 2024 was one of the hottest years on record.
The study marks a shift towards plants that treat both seawater and reservoir fresh water, said Prof Sun.
