Its a little known fact that singapore has been battling to deliver enough water to its population for a long time. Water channels can be found alongside almost every road. Precious water is collected to ensure not a single drop is wasted. Instructed to turn sea water into Drinking Water. Currently two plants process around 25 of singapores water. Why has the country invested so much in securing its water resources. This is the strait which runs between singapore and malaysia, it is here we find the reason why singapore is striving to secure an independent water supply. In the 1960s, the country signed two agreements with malaysia to import the necessary volume of water through the pipes stretching across the strait. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our guest of honor. He was known as singapores Founding Fathers and believes the most pressing issue was water supply. Told the british high commissioner from singapore doesnt know what i want, ill stretch out the water supply. So i knew that unless i could become less dependent, at that time i did not believe i could be totally independent but less dependent on malaysian supplies, i would always be a satellite. Singapore is now deeply committed to achieving independence in its supply of water. Using technology, waste water is transformed into clean water. New water that already accounts for 30 of the countrys water supply. I love it. In this episode of asia insight, we follow singapores effort to secure an independent Domestic Water supply. Singapore consists of 60 islands of various sizes and is completely surrounded by sea. The countrys highest point is only 163 meters above sea level and because of its flat terrain, there are few natural reservoirs. Thats why local people have always struggled to secure enough water. This is a statemade video encouraging citizens to save water. Three, two, one the government has campaigned for many years to raise Public Awareness about water conservation. He is 72 years old. He lives with his wife in public housing. As his wife works five days a week at the supermarket, freelance varnisher yeo is usually in charge of the cooking. He shows us how he saves water. By attaching a filter to the tap, consumption can be reduced to around half of the original volume. Washing vegetables in a bowl is another way of saving water. Its not cheap you know. Its not cheap at all. So i have to save water to save money. And you save the country as well. He shows us his water bill. He uses around 30 cubic meters a month and bill is taxed at 30 . If consumption exceeds 40 cubic meters not only does the basic charge rise but the bill is taxed at 45 . He also recycles leftover water from the washing machine to clean the hallway. Businesses make efforts to reduce water consumption as well. This Office Building in the Central Business district has more than 40 floors. Water is needed to wash the car park. And to keep the plants in the building garden green. All of this water comes from tanks that collect and filter waste water from air conditioning the units produce five cubic meters of water every day. This is the buildings control room. Good morning. Security camera images as well as electricity and gas usage are monitored 24 hours a day. This screen shows the volume of water being used by the buildings toilets. It displays the volume of water used in both male and female toilets on each floor. The Office Building was completed in 2011. Ever since, measuring devices have been used to check for leakages and heavy water usage. As a result of its efforts, the building was rewarded in 2014 with a certification for a fish and water usage from the government. Most of the singapore New Buildings have installed efficient tax and if abusing the water, he will come back to the same thing, because when i was young, singapore, we had water rationing when we had no water at home. We need to carry buckets and go downstairs and collect water from the rain. So the Younger Generation have to control and the older generation now, we have to educate them, why water is important. This is one of singapores governmental organizations, the Public Utilities board or p. U. B. Since independence the board controlled the supply of the nations electricity, gas and water. In 1995, the electricity and gas divisions were privatized and now the board is principlely responsible for conserving the conservation of water and safeguard the Domestic Water supply. To make sure singapore has enough water for many, many years to come, all right. Thats why the plan 50 years, 100 years, ahead. Weve already planned by 2016 to increase our supply of water, new water. Just before independence, in 1961 and 1962, singapore signed two agreements regarding its water supply with malaysia. One expired in 2011 and the other one carried on until 2061. The agreements were regarded as vital to singapores survival. However, at times, these agreements have been a source of dispute between the two countries. A few days after independence, the Prime Minister of malaysia told the british high commissioner, if singapore doesnt do what i want ill search out the water supply. So i knew that unless i could become less dependent at that time i could not believe i could be totally independent but less dependent on malaysian supplies. I will always be a satellite. So the quest began for water independence. From day one, he died in march 2015. One of the major policy goals was to reduce the amount of water imported from malaysia and achieve a selfsufficient water supply. This is a satellite image of water pipes carrying water from malaysia to singapore. Half a scentury after independence, they combined four major water sources. Heres a breakdown. Water imported from malaysia and rain water accounts for 45 of the supply. Processed sea water acts for 25 . Reprocessed waste water known as new water, makes up 30 . The singapore government aims to become completely independent from malaysia by 2016. Increasing new water shared to 55 . And process sea water share to 30 . Securing the remainder of the supply from rain water and other sources. Harry is the chief of the public utility boards Technical Division and entrusted with the development of newater in 1998 and been at the forefront of those efforts for yearly 20 years. If we were to set newater is key in our whole water strategy. Its the only way that we can all come our land the government first began to experiment with reprocessing waste water during the 1970s. However, the plan was soon scrapped because mem Brain Technology was still in its early stages and because of the huge costs involved. In later years, affordable Filtration Technology was developed and the government relaunched its water processing plant. This is the one that we in 2000 we built that. Harry equipped this demo plant with state of the Art Technology from countries such as the u. S. And japan and germany and combined this technology to carry out rigorous experiments. Two years later, he was successful in developing a system for processing waste water. Nhk interviewed marry back in the early 2000s. What you see on my left, this is microfiltration unit. We have five units here and the purpose of this microfiltration unit is to remove all of those you can see with your eye. Ba basically clean the water before it goes here. The purpose of this is because its so small, it removes all and produces a high quality water that we want. We have the uv there, and caught this is our uv disinfection, the microfiltration are more or less give you the quality of the water. The uv disinfection you can add the barrier, they are doing well. The uv is actually a redundant process. All right . But its on all the time, even when they are doing so after this uv, what we do is we give it to the customer. And we give it to the customer and produce high quality water, we call it newater. Harry built the demo plant close to a Sewage Treatment center. He took water treated at the plant and processed it. Eventually leading to the production of water pure enough to drink. It is now known as newater he still fondly remembers the time he gave a tour of the facilities and explained the treatment process to him. I remember one occasion where we brought him to a special place where you see the water being produced and being discharged and discharged into the stream because in the year 2000, we were testing the technology. We wanted to make sure it was safe. We discharged into and everything when he saw the water, very, very smooth, do something about it. In 2001, construction of newater plants began in two locations, the cost was approximately 50 million u. S. Dollars. In february of 2003, a ceremony was held to celebrate the opening of the plants and the production of newater began in earnest. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment weve been waiting for, a launch the newater. Are you ready, sir . The Prime Minister at the time, drank newater in front of the media to promote its safety. Today there are four newater plants providing 630,000 cubic meters of water per day, 30 of the countrys supply. The majority the put to industrial use such as the washing of semiconductors. The rest is sent to reservoirs that store rain water. It is then processed as regular Drinking Water and distributed for household use. Underground construction is also currently under way to further increase the ratio of newater. Tunnels like this are designed to collect waste water and carry it efficiently to the plants. Used water will be channelled from the existing neck work to the linked sewers and south tunnel via shafts and the used water flows by gravity along the south tunnel which will run underneath major roads. The south tunnel serves as a Cost Effective super highway built as a general gradient, used watt are is transported entirely by the force of gravity being before pumped up at twice wrp. Construction began in 2000. The eastern arm of the tunnel is already in operation. And the western arm is scheduled for completion in 2025. It will be 90 kilometers in length. Its the flagship in the drive for independent water supply, however, harry points out that simply building facilities will not be enough to encourage wider use of reprocessed water. 1998, san diego, los angeles, even in florida they were trying to introduce water reused and it failed. Failed not because of technology, not because they are not competent. But because of a lot of miscommunication and the key is acceptance. As an engineer its easy for me to get the water safe, but how do we convince that the water is safe . This is singapores first ever newater plant. It also runs a visitor center. Entrance is free. Elementary and Junior High School students are encouraged to visit the facility to learn all about newater. How do we collect newater . We keep a network and in short we call this the dpss. The children are invited to enter a replica of the underground tunnel. At the other end, newater bubbles out. The tour guide explains the treatment process to them. Newater being pumped in, right . Before the treatment, we this is the microfiltration membrane used in the first stage of process and removes all solid matter and viruses. A reverse osmosis membrane is used in the next stage, even finer membranes ensure only water molecules remain. Finally the water is disinfected using ultraviolet rays, hundreds of times as strong as the sun. The newater is now ready. At the end of the tour, newater is handed out to the students. Okay, these are just sample bottles of newater, take the opportunity to grab a bottle each and find out how it for yourself. Harry has spent years working on the development and promotion of newater but how does he see the future of the technology . We do not have the whole thing about the reservoir, its not possible. So and rain is depending on weather. No rain, no water. No rain, no water, right. So its very dependent and we have our dry season and wet season. If the country were to progress, the water demand has to go up. It has to go up. So if we project down the road, the demand for water will be double. In japan, it doesnt even stop. The housing, right . Very small housing, enough car, they can go on. This is the key to holding. I notice in the end, having a big reservoir, what you see outside is a storage tank. That is our storm. In the way, i overcome the land and stream thats required understand . The small yet affluent city state of singapore is putting finest minds to work on achieving a dream of stable Domestic Water supply. Innovations such as newater may make this dream a reality. Nhk world tv from japan. Hello, welcome to nhk newsline. Im Keiko Kitagawa in tokyo. South korean prosecutors are seeking an arrest warrant for a longtime friend of President Park geunhye. The prosecutors charged ch soonsil of attempted fraud, accused of large sums of money to her nonprofit organizations and accused