Pioneering Spirit
It may have taken 15 years, but Dr Andrew Benedek’s vision of using lowpressure membrane technology to provide clean water to the world went from cool reception to international accolades. The latest feather in his cap? Winning the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize at the Singapore International Water Week 2008.
Interview Aaron Lye
YOU HAVE HIGHLIGHTED THAT ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF THE ONE BILLION PEOPLE WITHOUT POTABLE WATER SHOULD BE A KEY PRIORITY. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE SOME CONCRETE STEPS GOVERNMENTS AND INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE TOWARDS THIS GOAL?
Resolving this problem will require leaders of developing countries, where these people reside, to decide that potable water is a high priority. However, these leaders can only make the decision if they are not threatened by security and food concerns, and if they are comfortable that the financing and management issues connected to water are solvable. Often, these conditions are not met and as such, progress is not made in spite of dire need. Given that global water problems affect everyone, developed countries must step in with financial and management help, including Singapore, a country which has gone from third to first world in little more than a generation.
MANY COUNTRIES HAVE BENEFITED FROM YOUR MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY, WHICH PROVIDES SUSTAINABLE DRINKING WATER SOLUTIONS. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? HOW DOES YOUR FAMILY FEEL ABOUT HAVING A ‘WATER CELEB’ IN THEIR MIDST?
It has always been of great personal satisfaction to know my work helps people. As for my family, they probably hope being a celebrity doesn’t go to my head!
YOU WERE IN UNIVERSITY WHEN YOU DECIDED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE AREA OF WATER TREATMENT. WERE YOU WAY AHEAD OF YOUR TIME OR WERE MANY OF YOUR PEERS EQUALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT KEEPING OUR ENVIRONMENT AND WATERWAYS CLEAN?
I was definitely ahead of my time. In fact, in my class of 23 chemical engineers, I was the only one seeking to make the study of water pollution my primary goal. This changed quickly soon after my graduation in 1966, as water pollution became an increasingly common topic in the media during the late ’60s, and that in turn generated government grants and jobs.
YOU WERE LAUDED DURING SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL WATER WEEK WHEN YOU TOOK HOME THE INAUGURAL LEE KUAN YEW WATER PRIZE. WHAT ARE YOUR MEMORIES OF THAT NIGHT?
The event will live on in my mind as the highlight of my life. It was great to meet and listen to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew himself, and to be able to share the night with my wife and son and the many great people in the water industry
ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON ANY NEW WATER-RELATED RESEARCH OR TECHNOLOGIES?
I am currently focusing my attention on energy issues relating to the supply of water, a growing problem. I believe we must learn to lower the energy consumption associated with producing a potable water supply and create solutions to extract more energy from wastewater
IF CURRENT WATER CONSUMPTION PATTERNS CONTINUE, DO YOU FEEL THE WORLD’S POTABLE WATER SUPPLY WILL REMAIN SUSTAINABLE IN THE LONG RUN?
Producing enough water for people to drink and wash with is relatively easy to solve. The technology for reclaiming used water exists, and the amount of money needed, while significant, is a small fraction of what the world spends on medical care caused by poor water management.
However, water for growing food is a concern that has no clear solution at the present
time. As much as 80 per cent of all water used in the world is for agriculture use and
much of it is fossil water, groundwater deposited millions of years ago that is not being
replaced by rain. We need to put significant emphasis on the development of low-water
consumption irrigation technologies and the genetic engineering of plants to improve the
efficiency of water consumption.
"Singapore has already shown the world how a country that has very little available water per capita can manage and reuse its water for self sufficiency. Almost every country could and should learn from this.”
YOU’VE COMMENTED THAT YOU ADMIRE SINGAPORE. WHY?
Singapore’s government appears to function exceptionally well in all the areas I am
familiar with. Over the decades, it has created an economically successful, corruptionfree
society without the wholesale destruction of the environment that’s all too often the
case in developing societies. As such, Singapore is a source of hope for me as I think
about the future of the world. As an example, in the area of water, PUB has shown global
leadership in an increasingly water-scarce world
HOW WOULD YOU RATE SINGAPORE’S PERFORMANCE IN WATER RESEARCH, CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT?
Definitely first rate, all the way. That’s another major reason why Singapore should take the lead in helping the world progress in resolving water problems. Singapore has already shown the world how a country that has very little available water per capita can manage and reuse its water for self-sufficiency. Almost every country could and should learn from this
IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE ONE LOCATION IN THE WORLD THAT BEST REPRESENTS THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF WATER, WHERE WOULD IT BE?
This is a hard question because I have seen so many beautiful water spots around the globe. But if I had to choose, I would probably pick the freshwater lakes of Canada, where I used to enjoy canoeing.
Dr Andrew Benedek receives the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize from MM Lee for his development of low-pressure membranes.
THE MAN: Researcher-turned-technopreneur Dr Andrew Benedek, 64, won the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize for pioneering the development of low-pressure water treatment membranes. His journey to discovery began when he was a thirdyear chemical engineering student and noticed how a chemical plant was dumping effluent and untreated water into the St Lawrence River in Quebec, making the river smelly for many miles downstream. “I realised then and there that this was wrong, and I began thinking about using my engineering training to make a difference in this area.”
THE MEMBRANE: Dr Benedek’s membrane technology works by applying suction through the membrane immersed in untreated water. This allows the water to be purified, leaving the treated water free of suspended solids and bacteria. This innovative technology has enabled drinking water to be produced from even highly polluted water sources. Utility providers in developed and developing countries have incorporated the membrane into their water treatment processes. In Singapore, the membrane technology was instrumental in the development of NEWater.
THE MEDALLION: The Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize is an international award that recognises an individual or organisation for outstanding contributions towards solving the world's water problems, by applying innovative technologies or implementing policies and programmes which benefit humanity. The winner receives a gold medallion, an award certificate and S$300,000 cash. The Singapore Millennium Foundation, a philanthropic body supported by Temasek Holdings, is the sole sponsor of the Water Prize, pledging S$1.5 million over five years to the award.
Nominations for the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize go through a rigorous selection process. The Nominating Committee, comprising chief executives of multi-national companies and water utilities, leading academics in water research, policy and management and government officers, evaluated the nominations based on criteria such as merits of the technology, policy or programme, its scale of delivery, application and implementation and above all, the impact and benefits to humanity. It recommended the winner to the Water Prize Council, which is chaired by Dr Tony Tan, Chairman of the Singapore National Research Foundation, for its endorsement
THE MISSION: Dr Benedek plans to use the prize as seed money for his newly-established US$1 million Don Quixote Fund. The fund is targeted at helping young university-based researchers create technologies that will help provide clean water to people who need it. To choose and mentor the recipients of his fund, Dr Benedek is currently putting together a committee of renowned university professors and businessmen.
MAKING EVERY DROP COUNT
In a dialogue prior to the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize award ceremony, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, the man who championed the development of Singapore’s water sustainability, spoke about the country’s quest for water independence.
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew shared historical episodes of Singapore’s journey towards water independence during a dialogue chaired by Professor Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
When Japanese troops invaded Singapore in 1942, one of the first things they did was to blow up the pipes transporting water from Johor to Singapore. This left the British colonial army and Singaporeans with only two reservoirs of water that could last two weeks — at most.
Sharing these historical episodes at a dialogue organised as part of Singapore International Water Week, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew recounted how from “day one” he was determined to drive Singapore towards water independence. This he did by making water a top priority in government policies.
Together with a team of engineers, Mr Lee set out to systematically turn every drop of water in Singapore into potable water. It was a difficult task; impossible even. But it didn’t faze him. “I never believed it would be impossible forever; I thought sometime, some place, technology will be found that would make it nearly possible.”
In the 1990s, membrane technology was introduced in water treatment processes. This technology led to the creation of NEWater, high quality reclaimed water that will meet 30 per cent of Singapore’s water needs in two years’ time.
Membrane technology has also made it possible for the Marina Barrage to be transformed into an expansive freshwater lake that will meet 10 to 12 per cent of Singapore’s water needs.
"And this is the reason why we believe we should share this knowledge with so many other countries in the world which will face the same problems. Water is a precious resource; without it you die. You can live without energy, go back to trees, leaves, birds, but without water you dehydrate and die.
"The way water’s been wasted around the world, misused, I foresee water shortages in many countries. Besides, earth warming [is] causing disruptions in water supplies. I believe water reclamation and waste management will be a huge industry in almost every society, especially China and India, the big ones, who will have to cope with this problem.”
Decades of sustained, methodical development of Singapore’s water policies has its many players, from multi-national corporations to international organisations, all of whom have performed a crucial role. During the dialogue, Mr Lee acknowledged their contributions, and in a pay-it-forward move, Singapore now wants to share its expertise with other countries facing water shortages.
"We did not do this by ourselves. We climbed on other people’s shoulders. We brought this [technology] together and improved on them. We’re happy to have people climb on our shoulders, whether they are from the Middle East, China, India, whatever. It’s a collaborative effort. The world will need this because what we have assumed was limitless — endless supplies of water — is not so. We’ve found it not to be so, and that we’ve got a way out of it.”
