Let’s see if I can do a satellite embed…<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><br \/>\n<small><a href=\"http:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=singapore+newater&sll=1.28338,103.843986&sspn=0.081175,0.098362&ie=UTF8&hq=newater&hnear=Singapore&t=h&ll=1.314811,104.00509&spn=0.003754,0.00456&z=17\" style=\"color: #0000ff; text-align: left\">View Larger Map<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n<p>That (if all is well with Google Maps) is an aerial view of the weird factory that I ride by every day on my way into town.\u00a0 It was originally described to me as a ‘desalination plant’ but it turns out to actually be a water recycling plant, called a ‘<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pub.gov.sg\/NEWater\/Pages\/default.aspx\">Newater<\/a> Factory.’<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/newaterfactory1.jpg\" alt=\"newaterfactory1.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Newater factory photographed out the window of the yacht club shuttle bus<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Singapore has an elaborate rain-collection system, and per-capita water usage is quite low by international standards.\u00a0 Nonetheless, Singapore <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pub.gov.sg\/newater\/nationaltaps\/Pages\/default.aspx\">pipes in<\/a> about 40% of its fresh water from neighboring Malaysia.\u00a0 The occasional political hiccup between Singapore and Malaysia coupled with the trauma of an island-wide water shortage back in the 60’s seems to put everyone on edge about this reliance on the pipeline.\u00a0 Oil they can buy from multiple sources; when it comes to water they’re in a vulnerable position.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, the civil engineers here have no sense of proportion.\u00a0 They’ve built a desalination plant on the west coast which provides almost 10% of the\u00a0 water supply.\u00a0 And in the last 10 years they’ve scattered treatment plants here and there such that now essentially all of the islands waste-water is reprocessed and reused.\u00a0 In an attempt to stifle the outcry that stemmed from the prospect of recycling sewage into drinking water, there’s a beautiful PR center which exists to demonstrate and promote the use of the recycled water.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/newatervisitor1.jpg\" alt=\"newatervisitor1.jpg\" \/><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/newatervisitor2.jpg\" alt=\"newatervisitor2.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/newatervisitor3.jpg\" alt=\"newatervisitor3.jpg\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The first section of the center had lots of videos and kid-friendly interactive exhibits.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/newatervisitor4.jpg\" alt=\"newatervisitor4.jpg\" \/><br \/>\n<em>I arrived at the same time as a bus full of Thai tourists.\u00a0 After a few minutes the Newater tourguide sidled up to me and asked “So…\u00a0 you’re with them, then?”<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/newatervisitor5.jpg\" title=\"newatervisitor5.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/newatervisitor5.jpg\" alt=\"newatervisitor5.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Government officials drink recycled pee without dropping dead.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/newatervisitor6.jpg\" alt=\"newatervisitor6.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Will the tourists want to stand directly above a multicolor recycled-water fountain and take thousands of posed photos?\u00a0 Yes they will. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Part two of the tour included an actual working water-processing plant.\u00a0 More to come.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/newatervisitor5.jpg\" title=\"newatervisitor5.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let’s see if I can do a satellite embed… View Larger Map That (if all is well with Google Maps) is an aerial view of the weird factory that I ride by every day on my way into town.\u00a0 It … <a href=\"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/?p=783\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-infrastructure","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bogott.net\/unspecified\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}