SINGAPORE: Three-nation project to improve water

Organisations in three nations are involved in a major international collaboration between Flinders University in South Australia and the National University of Singapore, to improve the quality of the island city-state's stormwater. The new technology and the research expertise will ultimately be used to tackle the world's water crisis.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Singapore last Wednesday, 25 June, the A$1.1 million (US$1 million) research project brings together Flinders' expertise in leading-edge water technologies and research capability with an Australian water company, United Water International, and the National University of Singapore, the Singapore-Delft Water Alliance comprising Singaporean public utilities and Dutch water experts, and Deltares Netherlands, a Dutch business consortium.

The project will involve the installation and trial of a state-of-the-art filtration system in a major canal in Singapore down which millions of litres of tropical rainfall currently flow from dense urban areas to reservoirs and the sea, carrying with it undesirable impurities.

The highly porous, large capacity, modular filter system being developed by Flinders will purify the stormwater and have major cost and efficiency advantages over conventional gravel and sand-based systems. Importantly, it will enable the large and often unsightly canals to be landscaped for aesthetic and recreational purposes, and yet remain flood-preventative.

Flinders Vice-chancellor Professor Michael Barber said the two-year project, co-funded by the Australian Research Council, was "an excellent example of international collaboration to address a major environmental issue".

"The importance of water conservation in a world threatened by climate change is now widely recognised and this multilateral collaboration has the potential to bring substantial gains on this front in Singapore, Australia and beyond," Barber said.