More than 40 water champions recognised for water conservation efforts and efficiency
Singapore, 26 March 2024 – PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency today announced the winners of the prestigious Singapore Watermark Awards (SWMA), Water Efficiency Awards (WEA), and inaugural Water Efficiency Awards (Projects), recognising outstanding efforts in water efficiency and conservation in the non-domestic sector. Minister for Sustainability and the Environment and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations Grace Fu and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and the Environment and Transport, Baey Yam Keng, presented the awards during a ceremony at Gardens by the Bay, Flower Field Hall this morning.
2 A total of 46 winners, ranging from manufacturing plants and data centres to commercial buildings and schools, received the awards. Mr Ong Tze-Ch’in, Chief Executive of PUB, said: “Water is a critical resource to support Singapore’s economic growth. The award recipients have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to water efficiency and exemplify the spirit of innovation and stewardship in safeguarding Singapore’s precious water resource. I hope that their actions will inspire others to join the movement towards a more sustainable and resilient water future.”
Awards to honour water champions
Singapore Watermark Awards
3 The Singapore Watermark Awards (SWMA) is Singapore’s highest tribute for exceptional achievements in water efficiency, conservation and advocacy. The three SWMA winners are Amazon Web Services Singapore (AWS Singapore), Mee Toh School and Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Company Pte Ltd (SSMC). Please see Annex A for the SWMA judging criteria and more information on the three winners.
4 One of AWS Singapore’s new data centres has achieved top 10% water efficiency performance in the data centre sector. A provider of cloud technology services, all of AWS Singapore’s data centres use recycled NEWater. In this particularly highly water efficient data centre, AWS innovated with a local startup to deploy a homegrown wastewater recycling technology to further improve water efficiency, allowing wastewater to be reused instead of being discharged to the sewer. AWS Singapore also implemented employee education initiatives to raise awareness on water conservation, and supported the Science Centre’s Youth Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Empowerment Programme on sustainability, where their staff volunteers mentored students in developing project prototypes, including one that can reuse rainwater to generate energy.
5 “We are honored to receive PUB’s recognition on AWS’ water efficiency efforts in Singapore. AWS has a goal to be water positive by 2030, returning more water to communities than it uses in its direct operations. As part of this effort, AWS is innovating to lower water use across facilities by using various technologies to continually improve water efficiency. AWS data centers are highly water efficient and use less than one cup of water (0.19 litres) on average globally to cool one kilowatt hour of IT load compared to the industry average of about 1.8 litres for the same load. With our success in Singapore, we plan to scale these proven innovations in water recycling and efficiency across the region,” said Mr Will Hewes, Amazon Global Water Sustainability Lead.
6 Mee Toh School, a co-ed primary school located in Punggol, has been lauded for its long-running participation in implementing water efficiency measures and water conservation programmes. It significantly reduced its water usage by 30% between 2019 and 2022 through initiatives such as a rainwater collection system. Furthermore, water sustainability is integrated as part of the school’s Environment Education curriculum through the Applied Learning Programme (ALP), engaging students in various water conservation projects and initiatives.
7 Mrs Wang-Tan Sun Sun, Principal of Mee Toh School said, “The award is an affirmation of the efforts of the school community, stakeholders and partners, put together over the years. No effort is too small and we take one step at a time. Our students are in their formative age. By teaching them the values, knowledge and skills to form good habits of water usage from young, we hope to see them grow up with the confidence to influence many more.”
8 SSMC has consistently achieved the highest recycling rate in its sector since 2015, at an average of 67% as compared to the industry average of 45%. It continues to tap on innovative solutions to raise its water efficiency rate.
9 Mr Lim Soon, CEO of SSMC said, “SSMC is the first wafer fabrication plant in Singapore to use 100% NEWater in our manufacturing process, and we have been doing so since 2003. Over the years we have also invested progressively in water conservation and recycling projects. Additionally, SSMC also works actively with employees, schools and communities through various projects and programmes to drive the awareness on the importance of water conservation.”
Water Efficiency Awards (WEA)
10 PUB also gave out the Water Efficiency Awards (WEA), which recognises the top 10th percentile of water efficiency performers in the respective sectors, and the inaugural Water Efficiency Awards (Projects), which honours projects that have demonstrated excellent improvements in water efficiency, innovativeness and project leadership, and set the industry benchmark for best practices in water conservation. This year, there are 35 WEA winners from 12 sectors and eight WEA (Projects) recipients.
11 Among the recipients of the inaugural WEA (Projects) is SBS Transit, who worked on a bus washing efficiency improvement project at Ulu Pandan and Seletar Depots. Both depots utilise underground separation tanks to collect and recycle the used water from bus washing by separating the oil and sludge. To improve the efficiency of the washing process, SBS Transit also installed additional pumps to transfer more recycled water for bus washing and optimised the size of spray nozzles to reduce water used and increase water pressure for more efficient washing. Overall, the project enabled SBS Transit to achieve water savings of up to 25% per bus washed.
12 The SWMA and the WEA are given out every two years. Since the inception of the awards in 2007, a total of 65 recipients from different sectors and the community have been recognised for their outstanding contributions towards water sustainability. By recognising role models in water conservation and sharing best-in-class practices, PUB aims to continue to inspire businesses and the community to do their part in conserving water.
13 Visit PUB’s website for more information on the awards.
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