Not-for-profit plant making water purifier for disaster relief opens in Singapore

A not-for-profit plant making water purifier sachets for disaster relief has opened in Singapore. 

Consumer goods producer Procter & Gamble says Singapore's location and strong logistics capabilities will allow it to react quickly to disaster-prone nations in the region. 

Every four gramme sachet produced at the Tuas facility can turn 10 litres of dirty water into clean drinking water. 

And the plant can now produce 100 million sachets a year. 

That translates to one billion litres of clean drinking water, which P&G estimates to be enough to save 5,000 lives. 

All sachets produced will be distributed at cost or for free. 

Dr Greg Allgood, Director of P&G Children's Safe Drinking Water Programme says the firm will work with NGOs to reach and educate communities with no easy access to drinking water. 

"We wanted to develop something that not only disinfected the water, but also made it clean and people can see it working. And the magic of this product is you can actually see the water getting clean in front of your own eyes, so people trust that it works, which is a big part of teaching people how to use it. And they should use it on a daily basis to make their water healthy."