Move over, Bad Romance, it's Bad Gas that rocks!

I'll just squeeze a little bit more out of the water issue.

Singapore is on its way to becoming water-sufficient... by 2060. That year is significant; the following year (2061) is when the second water pact with KL ends.

Some 50 per cent of our needs will by then come from Newater (reclaimed water, mostly from sewage), 30 per cent from desalination and 20 per cent from local catchment areas.

In terms of our bilateral relations with Malaysia, PM Lee has reiterated that Singapore continues to expect both sides to honour this second water pact till expiry, regardless of whether it has become technically feasible for us to ramp up our own production ("Drink less, pee more" campaign?).

But, short of a volatile government running KL in future, the strategic concern about the "external tap" being turned off in an act of hostility will become less and less intense here. That both sides have embraced Johor's mammoth Iskandar Region project is proof that cool head see the benefits of the synergy in economic interdependence.

There is another significance to that 2060 target of water self-sufficiency. The slogan "Every drop counts" will become even more telling. The entire national sewage system may have to be reconfigured, as would household pipings and plumbing. Just as we have to discipline ourselves to throw paper, glass and metal cans into the appropriate recycling bins, so have we to ensure all run-offs go into the right channels.

If you pee in the swimming pool, who knows, will some chemical dye mixed into the water finger you out? You emerge from the pool dyed purple or blue, looking like a Smurf. Someone will be on hand with a Corrective Work Order jacket waiting for you (plus the fine ticket, of course).

And, as a water expert said this week, even urine has become a precious resource -- not just for recycling as reclaimed water, but as fertiliser too! That papaya in your garden sures looks luscious and juicy. But, hey, it smells a little funny.

Imagine the water experts saying next... don't wipe off all that sweat. Wring it carefully into this bin here.
  
Recall, meanwhile, an earlier posting of mine which referred to a future possibility of recycling poo into processed food (my dog says "No big deal", he does that already... it's called coprophagia).

But look on the bright side. Singapore is becoming (if it is not already) a world leader in waste recyling technology, an exportable money-making knowhow. Hyflux's Olivia Lum is already laughing all the way to the bank.

So, is an expert in urine technology someone who has a Pee-hD?

Oh, there's one last untapped waste: fart. Is there a Singaporean entrepreneur out there who's already sniffing out the chance to make big bucks from our bad gas? (Lady Gaga's next song hit: Bad Gas?). Who knows, the expression "to raise a stink" may then take on a whole new meaning.