What is the difference between the cost of producing water and the price sold to Singaporeans?
I refer to the article “PUB focuses on squeezing more value out of each drop of clean water produced” (Straits Times, Jul 4).
It states that “A significant chunk of the $435 million that has gone into water research and development (R&D) here has gone into making water treatment processes less of a drain on electricity.
But both these water treatment methods require plenty of energy. Between five and 17 times more electricity than that used to treat rainwater is needed to produce water through desalination or treatment of used water. The latter also produces sludge, which is ultimately landfilled.”
As to “PUB said that meeting future water demand with today’s technology will see PUB’s electricity requirement go up four times to 4,000 GWh a year, with the amount of sludge generated doubling to 600,000 tonnes a year by 2060.
“It’s thus more sensible to invest in making these taps more efficient and cheaper for both domestic and commercial water users here” – why is it that arguably, a very significant piece of information may be missing – what is the cost of producing water and what are the financials?
When the 30 per cent increase in the price of water was announced in Parliament last year – there was also no financial information, like cost, revenue, profits, etc.
Leong Sze Hian
