Fourteen teams of students competed against each other on Saturday to build and run a mini NEWater Plant, in a bid to win Sembcorp Water Technology prizes.
Students were given 30 minutes to produce as much clean water as they can. They had to filter a tub of dirty water until it is clean.
The students have come a long way since last October, when they visited Sembcorp’s NEWater plant in Changi as part of preparations for the competition.
It aims to get students interested in a career in the water industry.
Dr Adrian Yeo, research fellow at the Singapore Membrane Technology Centre, said: “We showed them if you’re an operator, what problems would you face and how do you deal with these challenges. A lot of the teams actually understood in a pretty deep manner what the processes were and how to maintain an operating plant.
“There are three processes to NEWater; there’s ultra-filtration which removes most of the larger dirt particles, there’s reverse osmosis which removes the dissolved particles, and there’s a UV system that actually kills off the remaining germs that might pass through… With these three steps, the water that comes out is actually very clean and completely drinkable.”
Many students now appreciate the time and effort that go into producing clean water.
“I thought it was a very simple process where you just need to turn on the pump and it works. But we have to change a lot of switches and make sure that the machine runs well,” said one participant.
“After this, I plan to share all my experiences with my friends and I hope they can listen to me and not waste water,” said another.
The winning plant will be known in July at the Young Water Talents Symposium, which is part of Singapore International Water Week.
