Two organisations, a school and a teacher were recognised for their efforts in protecting Singapore’s water resources and promoting water sustainability.
They will receive the Watermark Award from Ms Grace Fu, Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, at the Singapore Environment and Water Awards at the Marina Barrage on September 24.
The four winners are: Mathematics teacher Ms Lim Bin, Compassvale Secondary School, Philips Singapore, and Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Company (SSMC).
Ms Lim Bin plays an instrumental role in Woodgrove Secondary School’s environmental programme in. She helped the school achieve PUB’s Water Efficient Building certification through initiatives such as installing water-saving devices.
Compassvale Secondary School integrated water education into its curriculum and also uses the Sengkang Floating Wetland to drive its environmental programmes.
Philips Singapore has set in place initiatives to improve water efficiency.
The Philips group comprises three sectors, one of which is Philips Lighting.
In Philips Lumileds, which is part of Philips Lighting, a waste water reclaim system has been built. This allowed Philips Lumileds to recycle 43 per cent of its used water.
SSMC was recognised for its water conservation efforts, which include using NEWater for wafer processing.
George Madhavan, director of 3P Network at PUB, said: “We have got two winners from the manufacturing industries. In Singapore, what we’ve noticed is that water consumption for the non-domestic sector has been on the rise.
“With these two Watermark Award winners, they are really outstanding advocates for water recycling. Our hope is for them to inspire other companies in the manufacturing industries to come on board to also increase their water recycling rate.”
Gary Munro, general manager of Philips Singapore, said it “makes good business sense” to advocate water recycling.
“That reduction and consumption that we’ve had as a consequence of the recycling that we do saves us in the order of US$1 million to US$1.5 million a year. That’s a lot of money,” said Mr Munro.
The Watermark Award was introduced by the national water agency, PUB, in 2007.
This year, PUB received 36 nominations.
