Singapore's tap water safe to drink despite haze, says Grace Fu

Environment Minister Grace Fu stated that Singapore's tap water remains safe to drink despite concerns regarding hazy conditions. Her comments followed the circulation of social media videos and photos showing greyish or blackish rainwater collected in pails after a downpour on Oct. 15. According to Mothership, Fu visited the PUB Water Quality Lab to investigate how haze affects rainwater and whether drinking water is impacted.

Tests conducted by PUB on Oct. 17, when the Pollutant Standards Index was 193, included tap water and rainwater samples from Kranji, Ulu Pandan, and runoff from Yew Tee. Fu noted that rainwater collected during hazy conditions may contain higher levels of organic matter and particles, and may be slightly more acidic, because rainwater picks up airborne substances as it falls. Mothership reports that the degree of discoloration depends on whether the rainwater was collected from runoff or directly.

While tap water is unaffected, Fu stressed that rainwater should not be used for drinking, cooking, or personal hygiene, even when collected during non-hazy conditions. CNA - Singapore noted that the minister's comments were made in response to the videos of blackish rainwater seen online.

Brief written by urgent.news from CNA - Singapore, Mothership — 2 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.