Week 13 (09/01/2023 - 15/01/2023)

Week 13 Blog

This week, I took a field trip to the NEWater Visitor Centre. During this visit, I learnt more on how Singapore obtains water for its citizens and industry needs, one of which is the NEWater technology. Through the process of micro-filtration, reverse osmosis and UV disinfection, Singapore is able to convert waste water into clean, drinkable water for its citizens as well as high quality water for industrial uses. 

Reflecting on this experience, I feel that it is important for Singapore to stay innovative for our needs. Relating to the aspect of NEWater technology, we cannot rely on other countries for a basic, essential need to survive and must use everything we have to stay self-sufficient to keep society healthy. Furthermore, with a lack of land and space, we need to constantly research solutions to serve our needs while being adaptable to the changing land use. 

With regard to energy, we can definitely be more sustainable too. As most of our energy is obtained from pipelines from neighboring countries Malaysia and Indonesia and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported from other countries, we are largely dependent on others for this need. To resolve this problem, I believe we can use our warm, tropical climate to our advantage. By utilizing the strong rays of the sun as "fuel", we can harvest large amounts of clean, solar energy using solar panels. By doing so, we are not only able to be self-sufficient but also do our part in halting climate change by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

On a personal scale, my main takeaway from the field trip was that resources are precious. Be it water, energy or even people, I feel that we need a constant supply to keep our country competitive to face future challenges and sustainable. I will do my best to conserve precious resources like water and energy by reducing their wastage while studying hard in school to develop myself such that I am able to become a valuable asset and contributing member of society.