The real work was about to start. One by one, the utility cajoled its customers into accepting the water. Manufacturers wondered what residues the water might have left on their wafers in their factories, but the utility pointed out that the ultrapure water was cleaner than most drinking water. Finally the island’s 12 wafer-fabrication plants and other electronics manufacturers championed the ultrapure water, using it to wash their silicon wafers. The companies calculated that the recycled water’s exceeding purity saves them several billion a year, in part by cutting out steps in their internal water-purification process.
Singaporealso started priming the public. The prime minister drank a bottle or the treated water at national festival, and the crowd cheered. The message was clear --- patriotic Singaporeans drink wastewater. But the rest ofSingaporewas slower to follow. A parody of a popular nationalist song, “Count on Me,Singapore,” cheerily urged residents to “Drink Our Pee,Singapore.”