ZURICH, SWITZERLAND — A project built to meet Singapore’s water-reuse needs for the next century received the “Water Project of the Year” award April 27 at the annual Global Water Awards held in Zurich.

The Singapore Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) (pictured), the first phase of which was completed in 2008, carries wastewater from homes and businesses through a tunnel that is 48 kilometers (30 mi.) long and up to 6 meters (19.6 feet) in diameter. The tunnel was bored and constructed at a depth of 20 to 55 meters (66 to 180 feet) beneath the surface. The sewerage is conveyed through the tunnel to the heart of the DTSS system, the Changi Water Reclamation Plant, which can treat up to 800,000 cubic meters (211 million gallons) per day.

Water treated at the reclaim plant is then either discharged into the ocean through deep outfalls or is piped to the Changi NEWater plant on the rooftop of the reclamation plant. In the NEWater plant, it is purified further with advanced membrane technologies, making it suitable for drinking or for high-purity industrial purposes.

The project was built by PUB, the government water/wastewater utility of Singapore. PUB Chief Executive Khoo Teng Chye accepted the award. This is the second international award for the DTSS: Last year, it was global winner in the Planning Projects category of the International Water Association’s Project Innovations Awards.

In addition to the DTSS, finalists for the award included the As Samra Wastewater Treatment Project in Jordan and two projects in the United States: the Geneva, IL, Water Treatment Facility and the Twin Oaks Valley Water Treatment Plant in San Diego, CA.

Total project cost of the DTSS was $3.65 billion (2.78 billion euros, or 5.5 billion Singapore dollars).

Denver, CO-based engineering, consulting and construction firm CH2M Hill has worked with the PUB since 1997 to design and build the project.

“Singapore is an excellent example of how a country has taken a holistic approach to sustainable water management,” Bob Bailey, CH2M Hill Water Business Group president, said in an April 28 press release from his company.

The Water Project of the Year Award is presented for “the water or wastewater project, commissioned in 2008, that represents the most significant contribution to water technology and environmental protection,” according to its sponsors. The Global Water Awards are sponsored by the International Desalination Association and the United Kingdom-based business magazine, Global Water Intelligence.

Singapore is a city-state located on islands off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It has a population of about 5 million living in a small, highly urbanized geographical area. The PUB’s Mr. Khoo noted in a PUB press release that the DTSS has helped Singapore overcome its “innate constraint” of being a land-scarce nation.   

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