1. Introduction

Our chosen area of focus is “Attitudes and Perspectives of people towards NEWater”. Most of the residents in Singapore buy drinking water and quite a handful of them find the prospect of drinking NEWater very unappetizing due to the fact that it comes from the sewage, even after the extensive treatment it has undergone.

NEWater is an advancing technology of creating clean drinking water from sewage water. Water is liquid gold as the world needs water to survive so does everyone in the world. Singaporeans have water running from their taps and they are taking it for granted and moreover, they also complain about NEWater. [The Straits Times, 2007]

Singaporeans may be paranoid as they might think that the water is still dirty with diseases and waste, thinking that they are right, they might start to complain to the government and the government may face a huge issue regarding NEWater. Hence, we have chosen this topic to create an awareness about NEWater and that we should not be taking it for granted. It is also one of SIngapore’s national tap so it is important to do research on why people hate it so much.

A study by the United Nations states, that about 1.2 billion people around the world, will experience a lack of safe drinking water, in the next twenty five years.  For a small country like Singapore, with a population of 4.5 million people, how does it ensure that everyone has access to drinking water? Singapore had little water resources to begin with. In the early days, Singapore’s two main water sources were its reservoirs, and water imports from its neighbor, Malaysia. In 1963, water rationing had to be carried out as there was water shortage As a nation, Singapore had to increase self-sufficiency and long term water security. This is where NEWater comes in. NEWater is high grade reclaimed water produced from treated used water.  It has passed more than thirty thousand scientific tests and surpasses the World Health Organization’s and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requirements. “(Foo Shu-Yi, Charlene Tan and Jacqueline Seng)[1] NEWater will become an important part of the Singapore government strategy to double the country's source of water supply while reducing the dependence on water imports from Malaysia. NEWater is reported to be much cheaper than desalination, with half the capital costs and one-fourth the energy running costs.”(“Using Reclaimed”)[2]By 2020, this reclaimed water will meet 40 per cent of Singapore's water needs, up from the current 30 per cent.Only 2 per cent of Newater produced daily is mixed with raw reservoir water before it is treated to become drinking water.“(Cassandra Chew)[3]So there is really harm in drinking NEWater!