Delicious-looking popsicles are made from polluted water

Hmmm wonder how Singapore River popsicle taste like.

Zhangxin Zheng | June 26, 2017, 06:21 PM

Murky brown water in the drain and flooded areas during monsoon season remind you of teh or Thai tea?

2013 photo from PUB's Facebook page

Well, you are not alone.

A project from Taiwan, known as Polluted Water Popsicles, has turned polluted waters into popsicles to give a clear view of what lies inside that funky shade of brown, yellow, green or opaque pink sometimes seen in drains.

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It is the brainchild of three Taiwanese design students -- Hung I-chen, Guo Yi-hui, and Cheng Yu-ti -- from the National Taiwan University of Arts.

They collected water from 100 different water sources in Taiwan and "froze" them into beautiful popsicles using transparent polyester resin. The popsicles were also packaged with wrappers that labelled different regions where the samples were collected from.

Caption translation: Passing by milk-looking drain water this morning

Obviously, no one seriously put them in their mouths, but these popsicles sure won't taste as good as they look.

About 90 percent of the trash found in the water sources were plastic that might come in the forms of bottle cap, plastic bags, bottles and chopstick wrappers.

If you take a closer look, the popsicle on the most right has a toothbrush head in it.

Many of these plastic items are also common pollutants found in Singapore waters, which become more troubling given the returning of wildlife like otters to Singapore's hybrid ecosystem.

Photo courtesy of Alvin Tan

Unlike typical campaigns that stuff images of unsightly littered waters in your faces, this project raises awareness about water pollution by turning polluted water into beautiful popsicles.

Because if these popsicles are not going to cut it with you, what makes you think it will cut it with animals?

 

Here are totally unrelated but equally interesting articles:

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Related articles:

These photos of S’pore otters getting tangled up in our litter should serve as an impetus to stop littering

 

Top photo from Polluted Water Popsicles Facebook

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