As a result, the plant was unstable, creating difficulties with costs and reliability.
Recalling the early days of the project, he or she said his team would often find yourself working through the night, race to get the plant working.
“In those times, the plant was like our first home, I would only go home for lunch and then run returning to the plant, ” this individual said.
Difficulties continued to problem the plants even with it officially opened in May 2000.
“It was three months of hell because it seemed like everything we did was incorrect, and everyone was simply working day and night time, like there was simply no tomorrow, to fix the issues. ”
With regard to Mr Peck, in whose son had simply been born, additionally, it meant having to manage being a new mother or father and operating a plant at the same time.
But despite the issues, the team certainly not gave up and rather, drew strength from another.
“I didn’t have to warrant or persuade people who it was an important project, it just came naturally, ” mentioned Mr Seah.
Noting the amount of private sacrifices involved, this individual expressed great gratitude for those who gave this their all.
“They had to give up time with their children, their family, as well as their social existence, because sometimes they had to work until two or 3am. They were all the sacrifices these people made, ” he said.
“They could have easily not done this and treated the task like routine work but they knew the work they were doing was not routine.
“That was the attractiveness about this project – everyone including industry consultants and suppliers from the private industry were on the same web page. ”
After that, in August 2k – three months following the plant opened : the team produced a major breakthrough.
“We realised the main element issue … The membranes at the grow were only becoming disinfected intermittently out of fear that regular cleaning might finish up damaging them, ” said Mr Seah.
In the end, all of the it took to resolve the problem was to go back to the basics.
“We did simple lab tests – no different from the ones you do in school – where you do a simple titration to see what is the point where, based on medication dosage, (the membrane will be damaged), ” stated Mr Seah.
“We realised that there was no way that people could get to that (point) because our dosing was too low, inch he said.
“So we evaluated that those fears had been unwarranted and began regularly disinfecting the particular membranes. ”
Their assessment proved to be correct as the put started to stabilize.
“Water was being released in and going out (in a continuous flow), and when we looked at the screens to see the functionality of the plant, it had been a very nice directly line, ” mentioned Mr Seah.
“That was whenever we knew that we got more or less got it. inch
INITIAL DROP OF ACHIEVEMENT
Even though tests showed that this reclaimed water has been well within global drinking standards very safe, there were still some – including Mister Peck – who were sceptical about if the technology really worked.
But the minute they saw, felt and touched the water – all uncertainties were thrown out of the window.
Recalling that minute, Mr Peck said everyone, including Mister Seah and companies of the project, experienced gathered at the plant for the testing.
As the factory hummed, they held their breath in enjoyment as the water began flowing through the pipes.
“We might move with the drinking water as it passed through various stages, and when we finally came to the final stage, someone opened up the tap and said this is the water, ” said Mister Peck.
Exactly what came out was crystal-clear water, much to the delight – plus relief – of everyone at the plant.