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Would You Drink This Water?
theodp writes "NEWater looks like any other glacier-clear bottled H20. Except, reports Salon, it gushes from the toilets of Singapore instead of a bubbling spring. NEWater is the product of Singapore's new water-treatment system, and it's wastewater that's been purified through advanced synthetic membranes called ZeeWeed, which could help 20% of the world's population that doesn't have easy access to clean water."
Try this FREE article from the Syney Morning Herald. or pay Salon to read it (or Salon will allow you to sit through a commercial and then you get a free one day pass).
http://www.busyweather.com/
Hmm. Brit joke only, methinks.
I'd drink the water.
it gushes from the toilets of Singapore instead of a bubbling spring
That is DISGUSTING. I don't think I will be drinking any water today. And thanks for adding 'gushing'.
Free XBox, PS2
Most water we drink today have been recycled from sever/toilet treatment plants anyway. This is nothing more than nonsensical urban FUD.
An H2O molecule is an H2O molecule, is an H2O molecule. If the water is truly purified (A chemical/spectral/whatever analysis can find that out) it really doesn't matter. Should I remind people that the water they drink is pumped from rivers, lakes, and wells where animals (submarine and above ground) piss in it all the time? With a well, nature filters it out using the soil. Other methods require us to perform filtering to clean the water and remove any pollutants we added.
:-)
I'm not even going to go into closed system water recycling...
In other news, does the name mean "NEW Water" or "Any Water"? Both names seem somehow appropriate. Perhaps it was an intentional double-pun?
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
If it's good enough for the dog...
... has been circulating for years and was likely piss at one time or another anyway, who cares what the filtration system is (ZeeWeed or natural aquifer) so long as one verifies the output is clean water.
I think it was Tom Robbins who postulated that life was invented by water as a means of transporting itself from one place to another?
Trouble making decisions? Just flip for it.
You lost me at gushes.....
if these people don't have access to clean water, i think they'll trust the cleaning method and go for this. the only reason they would have for not accepting it would be if they were rich enough to buy clean water from a more reliable/comforting source (like, one with water that hasn't been in a toilet). either way, people need water right?
I'm against picketing but I don't know how to show it.
....fish fuck in it
This company plastered incredibly funny billboards all over northeastern pennsylvania to gauge what kind of marketing buzz they'd get from the idea of recycled water.
NEWater is Reverse Osmosis Water
NEWater is the product from a multiple barrier water reclamation process. The first barrier is the conventional wastewater treatment process whereby the used water is treated to globally recognised standards in the Water Reclamation Plants.
The second barrier is the first stage of the NEWater production process known as Microfiltration (MF). In this process, the treated used water is passed through membranes to filter out and retained on the membrane surface suspended solids, colloidal particles, disease-causing bacteria, some viruses and protozoan cysts. The filtered water that goes through the membrane contains only dissolved salts and organic molecules.
The third barrier or the second stage of the NEWater production process is known as Reverse Osmosis (RO). In RO, a semi-permeable membrane is used. The semi-permeable membrane has very small pores which only allow very small molecules like water molecules to pass through. Consequently, undesirable contaminants such as bacteria, viruses, heavy metals, nitrate, chloride, sulphate, disinfection by-products, aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides etc, cannot pass through the membrane. Hence, NEWater is RO water and is free from viruses and bacteria and contains very low levels of salts and organic matters.
At this stage, the water is already of a high grade water quality. The fourth barrier or third stage of the NEWater production process really acts as a further safety back-up to the RO. In this stage, ultraviolet or UV disinfection is used to ensure that all organisms are inactivated and the purity of the product water guaranteed.
With the addition of some alkaline chemicals to restore the acid-alkali or pH balance, the NEWater is now ready to be piped off to its wide range of applications.
In fact, RO is a widely recognized and established technology which has been used extensively in many other areas. This includes the production of bottled drinking water and production of ultra-clean water for the wafer fabrication and electronics industry. RO is also becoming increasingly popular as one of the technologies used in desalination of seawater for human consumption. It is also used to recycle used water to drinking water on space shuttles and on International Space Stations.
They already have this on the market. Its called Dasani.
_
windows cursors
That's spelled WeeWeed.
An H2O molecule is an H2O molecule, is an H2O molecule
The next time your beer tastes 'funky' and your roomie is smiling...
Free XBox, PS2
New meaning for Eau de Toilette
NEWater is the product of Singapore's new water-treatment system, and it's wastewater that's been purified through advanced synthetic membranes called ZeeWeed, which could help 20% of the world's population that doesn't have easy access to clean water."
You see where this is going, right? You find some damn way to purify pee and poop water (along with the odd cigarett butt and chunder) and everyone will have cheap water. And as human nature goes, they'll consume it to the limit, futher putting strain on ZeeWeed and toilets.
Heck, you'll probably be required to flush your toilet in the event of a national water shortage...
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
As a Singaporean, I have personally drank Newater during one of our National Day Parades. It was given out to all the spectators of the parade. There ain't much to the taste, if you ask me to put it to a taste, I'll say it taste rather like distilled water.
Newater is currently pumped back into reserviors from the plants instead of being directly piped for comsumption. It is also currently used industrial purposes in Singapore too.
Out friendly neighbours Malaysia also had a field day making remarks such as "Singaporeans are resorting to drinking their own pee" and stuff as we had some bilateral issues regarding the sale of water from Malaysia to Singapore. This is one of the reasons why Newater technology is developed in Singapore.
You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance.
That being said, what happens when one process or another fails in this NEWater. Would it be catastrophic, ie Hepatitis or something in bottles? In nature, the process is long enough that a failure or two may not matter. With our potable drinking supply, failure can lead to some bad things - but not on nearly the same level as if it was directly processed wastewater.
I think I'll wait until this has been proven in practice for quite somke time.
No.
;-)
:-)
More like an Engrish speaking ad-agency could not spell right
I think it means "any" water, because I've observed that a lot of teenagers tend to use "ne" as a chat substitute for "any" ((especially common in Asia).
"ne1 here?" --> That's just a sample
Mmmmmmm..... Singapore toilet water.....
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
where's the caffeine?
GeneralKael -- Slacker Extraordinaire
Perfume? I couldn't help but remember my high school french class where I learned what that "eau de toilette" label on the perfume bottle translated into. I guess now we'll have to double check if we're drinkin it or putting it on for the scent.
It's easy to stand out when the general level of competence is so low.
If you live near a reservoir, go and look at that. Scum floats on it, fish crap in it, the odd sheep or wading bird dies in it. And then it gets treated and you drink it. What exactly is your problem with what Singapore is doing, people?
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
Which works well for particles, but not so for anything in solution. Los Angeles water from Owens River is high in salts and is run through ground wells to remove some of it, but the wells are overused and the salt content of the city's water is increasing. Saline content of Colorado River water is on the rise, too, as the water has been reused many times, some for agriculture which means trace amounts of pesticides.
A side note... I used to live in Midland, Michigan, years ago and the director of the water treatment plant had the last name of ... Filter. Not making it up, it's true.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Is made of people!!!!
"It's not the despair, I can take the despair, it's the hope that's killing me!"
On a trip to Mars, astronauts will have to drink recycled "grey" water (washing, dishes,...) and recycled "black" water (you guessed it). Recycling will most likely be biological where the organic content is consumed by algae under strong UV illumination. The algae then become part of the food again....
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
We freak about purified water that comes from a questionable source, yet most of us probably think nothing about cooking with tap water (I certainly have no idea where my tap water comes from, other than the faucet).
I like big butts and I cannot lie.
Until the bottled water craze really took off a few years ago, what do you think everyone in the USA and Canada (and half of Europe) was drinking? What comes out of your tap is recycled water in most cases-- just like this.
When I had a paper route as a teenager, one of my customers was the local water treatment plant. They gave me a personal, guided tour. It was pretty cool. Up til then I really hadn't thought much about water purification, and afterwards I just didn't worry about it. They did a great job, and everyone was healthy as could be.
I have no problem drinking water like this. I would have a problem paying bottled water prices for it anywhere besides a third world country.
Nothing but pure grain alcohol for me from now on!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
is beer!
Seriously, having working in the IT sector of water treatment (yes there is one), I can say that, at least in Southern California, the water from the tertiary plants are cleaner than from your tap.
At one particular tertiary plant wastewater is dumped in basins, allowed to filter through the ground, then extracted via well pumps. The water is then run through one of the largest UV light arrays that I've ever seen. Impressive.
Done right reclaimed water is viable.
"Give me taste, give me funk, give me fury, gimme some more."
ZeeWeed is people! Tell everyone!
FYI, this is old news. Started in 2002, and I was given a bottle at the Singapore National Day Parade (2002).
So, it's mega filtered. Yes, the concept is *yech*, but astronauts and others do this type of reuse.
It's a water issue in the area driving it, like it will in other places sooner than later. Malaysia and Singapore don't see eye-to-eye on fresh water rights...
So before you condemn, it's still better than many 'local', rural water sources to the north.
Well, i'm singaporean and i must admit the locals were a tad squirmish with the whole idea when it started. but then again, singapore's a small country, and a step toward self dependence on essentials like water means greater political bargaining power.
While the UK is lucky in that it always rains...
The climate may be wet, but don't think that there isn't also a great deal of treatment/recycling going on. Legend has it that in central London, the water coming out of the taps has on average passed through seven bodies before it reaches you.
This becomes a particular concern when you think about what people put in their waste water that can't easily be filtered by treatment plants, drugs such as antibiotics or contraceptives, for example.
My next sig will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush
Many commenters have pointed out that all (more or less) water is recycled. No problem there.
I think many readers are capitalizing on the wording of the headline: "it gushes from the toilets of Singapore instead of a bubbling spring". The connotation of that wording makes it seem as if the water is being bottled from the toilet bowl.
I seriously doubt that that's the bottling process, but correct me if I'm wrong.
Should I remind people that the water they drink is pumped from rivers, lakes, and wells where animals (submarine and above ground) piss in it all the time?
And let's not forget that certain waste byproduct is actually desirable to drink! I'd like to find a lake full of this stuff. Hmmmmmm..... --M
Check this story out. Dasani Water comes from city tap water. City tap water is purified sewage water.
The spice must flow.
Fascist, possibly.
!sig
Since we've treated the Great Lakes as sewers for a hundred years, Chicagoans are essentially doing the same thing. The water treatment plant here is considered one of the best in the world since its completion in the 1970's.
I would imaging that having a water distiller (there are interesting versions requiring little energy) in the home will be increasingly demanded in the future. pumping drinking water thorugh pipes is a bit much.
Water recycling to this extent is only useful in areas with water systems. ZeeWeed, and all other municipal systems such as this, are just too expensive for people in poor rural areas, such as much of India, China, and major parts of the African continent.
A much more practical solution for poor rural areas with abundant dirty water is household filtration and chlorination. This can be done with low-tech methods. The only middling tech item is a small bottle of sodium hypochlorite (bleach) that is used on a household basis. Since the bottle costs under US$0.40, and is lasts for several (six to ten) weeks depending on the household size, this truly is an affordable solution.
Science News ran the details some time back.I see billboards in my area for recycled water. (Outhouse Springs?)
Anyway, their tag line is "We're number two!!"
Humerous, but I don't know if I would drink it. I don't mind drinking recycled water, but the name just turns me off.
Out in the Rural areas of USA (where sewers don't run) we have these things called Aerobic septic systems. Basically they take the waste water from homes, bubble air through it, chlorinate it (using some sort of a biosanitizer tablet chemical), and then store it in a tank until there's enough to spray off through a series of sprinkler heads.
My family cut the sprinkler heads off and uses it to water our flower beds and landscaping... but supposedly the water that comes out of it is clean enough to drink. We haven't had anyone brave enough to try it, though.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Giventhe degree this nonsense is accepted by the mainstream, it's no surprise that these recycling systems are controversial.
As a Singaporean i feel compelled to explain why i feel NEWater is important to us.
To understand why the development of NEWater is necessitated you need to know some background about us.
We(Singapore) are tiny(640km Square) and have no natural resources, our water supply is mianly from Malaysia(northen neighbours) and our reservoirs and some from Indonesia(Southern neighbours).
The bulk of water supply agreeements with Malaysia were made just before and after UK left Singapore (no longer colonised).
However in recent history, Politicians in Malaysia (namely Mahathir) have used Singapore as a whipping boy in their domestic elections. They have many a times delared their intent to cut off our water supply(which will lead to war) if we do not "do" as they wish(numerous interference in our domestic issue).
That of course is impossible as we are a sovereign nation in our own right.
This is because of baggage from the past as Singapore was once part of Malaysia before the Brits colonised us. And Malaysia and Singapore were part Malaysian federation for 2 years after the Brits left (We left because we wanted a society built on meritoracy, not based on racial preferences which to this day Malaysia still has - affirmative action for Malays, which forms the MAJORITY of the population in Malaysia, meaning minorities(Chinese, Indians) are discriminated against!!!!).
So somehow, the older generation of leaders there are resentful of the fact that we have separated and have done very well without them for the past 38years.
Hence the need to develop altenative sources of DRINKING water. For our SURVIVAL, Should they go against international law and revoke the water supply contracts.
The interesting thing about Singapore is that most of the country's water comes across a bridge from Malaysia. They are in an interesting Military / Strategic dilemma where their dependence on another country for fresh water is a severe national security issue. To be able to recycle waste water and use it for drinking is a huge deal that could lead to aqua independence from Malaysia. If only the US could make gasoline out of CO2!
--------- I have no signature
I believe I read somewhere that distillers don't really do the trick, because many of the volatiles that you really need to get rid of have roughly the same or lower boiling point than water, which means you aren't really filtering them out by distilling.
Anyone else know the real story on this?
Gimme a break! Glacier water isn't clear. Anyone who's actually seen runoff from a glacier knows that the water yielded presents with a cloudy appearance (Turbidity, for all of us Geology enthusiasts). It's actually a very interesting characteristic, as is any natural Earth process...
I'm a Malaysian, I dont like water issue flame war.
I admit that the price singapore got to pay to Malaysia is very low, because it was signed a long time ago. It's time to negotiate better price.
not too low, not too high.
Forget politics, for me, Malaysia should continue supplying water to singapore for humanitary reason.
I hope both party not take any advantage such as setting pricing too high or too low.
Malaysian X-PM is quite anti Singapore, but the currrent one is not.
-- Hasbullah bin Pit (sebol)
I thought water treatment was standard practice in many places. It is in the US. Even where water isn't necessarily scarce. Really, I thought all "city water" came from a treatment facilities. That is where they add the chlorine and flouride and stuff.
Perhaps this new treatment method makes better water than most facilities, but is it really that unusual to be drinking water that was once flushed down the toilet?
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
Of course I would drink it. It's water. On the other hand I would never pay a dollar for a bottle of it, just like I would not pay a dollar for any a bottle of any water. Cut the sensationalism.
Oh, come on. 640km ought to be enough for everyone.
the water drank by astro/cosmonauts in the ISS is nothing more than purified humidity/urine/sweat/etc. If I remember correctly, the Mir space station was the first to make use of this sort of process.
-Cnik
As a biopharm engineer, I don't trust anything more open than a 200-300 kDa filter (about 10-15 nm) to clear all viruses by size excplusion. [/shameless plug] ;-)
1: London is not wet. It's on the east side and all the weather has already fallen on the western side of the country. I'm from Glasgow. That's wet, it's just north of Ireland and all that weather from the atlantic just drizzles in constantly.
2: The tap water in the UK is as good as it gets. It's as good, it's better than any bottled water you can buy. It gets sampled in thousands of locations and tested for *everything* on a weekly basis. Water quality is taken very very seriously indeed.
I worked at a water purification board during university, each day samplers went out to hundreds of locations across the region and took samples, this was done *every* day, covering the whole region they were responsible for, the samples were all tested the same day in state of the art labs for anything you care to mention, including hormones and drugs.
http://www.dwi.gov.uk/
So, basically you *are* full of shit, but it's your own shit, not somebody elses.
Deleted
The drinking water treatment plant, located at Andijk, the Netherlands, serves approximately 500,000 people and treats approximately 25 million cubic metres of water per year. It is expected to be the largest installation involving UV technology in Europe and is the first of its kind to treat micropollutants. "Ultraviolet systems have, for some time, been proven as an effective barrier against a wide range of pathogens, including E.coli, Cryptosporidium and Giardia," said Marvin DeVries, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Trojan Technologies. "This project will optimize the design of a UV treatment system, using Advanced Oxidation, that will effectively treat a much wider range of contaminants, that, with extended exposure, may be harmful to human health." It is an alternative to Chlorine-desinfection, but better for the environment. They also claim better results than the chlorine-method. If you search the web for 'UV' and 'Andijk' you'll find more about it. I think this method can help any country in the world, even the UK and Australia.
It's one of those head trips people tend to think of in grade school:
"The water I drink has been on this planet for so long. Who knows where this drop of water right here has been before? Maybe it was even inside a dinosaur!"
It seems possible and maybe even likely that all the water you drink has been pissed out of SOMETHING in the billions of years this planet has existed. And it wasn't filtered by ZeeWeed then.
While I understand why Singaporeans such as you feel you have the need to 'defend yourselves' from the 'big brother' Malaysia north of you, here is the other point of view.
:)
p.s. I am Malaysian, but I like Singaporeans, and I don't understand why the fuck we need to blow this all out of proportion. Kisses to the Singaporean girls