Bringing international best practice and process to phase 2 of Singapore’s Deep Tunnel Sewerage System

Singapore’s national water agency, the Public Utilities Board (PUB), has been developing an innovative water treatment and management system to meet the country’s long-term needs. The Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) is a vivid example of engineering innovation that will complete Singapore’s vision of a used-water superhighway to further enhance its water security and achieve its ultimate objective of being self-sufficient in meeting the water demands of its growing population and industries.

Phase 1, completed in 2008, involved building 48 km of a deep tunnel system, including 60 km of link sewers and two 5-km-long deep-sea outfall pipes. The second phase of the project began in 2016 and involved extending the tunnel system to the west of Singapore and constructing an advanced, state-of-the-art water reclamation plant.

Binnies, an RSK company, in a joint venture with AECOM, is helping to deliver phase 2 of the DTSS. The project has multiple aims, including minimising land take and freeing valuable land by decommissioning two reclamation plants and about 30 sewage pumping stations. Additionally, the project will be integrating existing infrastructure and maximising water recovery at new plants. Energy efficiency will be improved by powering the new plants and integrated waste-management facility with energy produced from waste. The maintenance-free design life of the plants will be extended and thus the personnel required for operations and maintenance will be reduced.

Binnies’ local and international expertise on water and wastewater treatment processes enables benchmarking against other projects to bring international best practices and processes to the project. Similarly, our highly respected business and management consultants are leading the cost evaluations, analysis and assistance to PUB to gain governmental approvals to proceed with implementing the project.

Once completed, the project aims to improve Singapore’s conveyance and treatment system, while reducing the land occupied by the used-water infrastructure on the island by 50%. Moreover, the new system will collect and treat used water at the world’s largest reclamation facility before it is transported across the country through two 80-km-long tunnels about 50 m underground.

Image via PUB.