Lit Review-Itmam Azwad(13)

Literature Review

What is NEWater?

NEWater is high-grade reclaimed water. It is produced from treated used water that is further purified using advanced membrane technologies and ultra-violet disinfection, making it ultra-clean and safe to drink.

Developed by PUB after three decades, NEWater has passed more than 65,000 scientific tests and surpasses World Health Organisation requirements, a testimony of its high quality and reliability.

(PUB, 2012)

Why do we need NEWater?

Singapore is a small, wealthy island that depends heavily on its neighbouring countries for their natural resources including water. In fact, half of the country’s water supply is imported from Malaysia. To make sure we have a many sustainable water source and we do not depend too much on Malaysia, NEWater was invented.(Seah, 2002)

People’s perception towards NEWater

Exhibitions, briefings, advertisements, posters and brochures were used to get the message across that NEWater was not only safe to drink, but also a sustainable source of water supply. MPs and grassroots leaders, having been persuaded themselves, helped to spread the messages concerning the community.

       

In a greater attempt to reach out to the community, NEWater was bottled to allow the general public to sample the taste of NEWater. Then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong gave his personal endorsement after drinking a bottle of NEWater following a tennis game, a footage that reflected the strong support for NEWater at the highest levels. It was aired on national television on 6 August 2002, and would set the stage for the “mass toast” event at the National Day Parade three days later, where 60,000 people celebrated Singapore’s national birthday with NEWater.

A survey carried out pointed towards an overwhelming public acceptance of NEWater, with 82% of respondents indicating they were prepared to think directly and an additional 16% prepared to drink it indirectly, after mixing with reservoir water. (Soon, 2009)

Reference:

PUB. (2012 July 9). NEWater:The 3rd National Tap, Use Each Drop of Water More Than Once. Retrieved from http://www.pub.gov.sg/water/newater/Pages/default.aspx

Soon, T., Jean, L., & Karen, T. (2009) Clean, Green and Blue: Singapore's Journey Towards Environmental and Water Sustainability. Page 150

Seah, C. N. (2002, July 21). Media blitz on the yuck factor. The Star. Retrieved from http://www.singapore-window.org/sw02/020721st.htm

Lit review - Chua Tuan Jin (12)

LITERATURE REVIEW

The review is related to the research because it will help us to find the opinions singaporeans have towards drinking NEWater. Also, we can find tips on how to represent our data once we finish the research. I will be discussing the point of this research and why we are doing it. 

We are doing research on the opinions of singaporeans have about drinking NEWater as some may be quite skeptical drinking water from their own toilet bowl and rain water. They may be angry with Singapore’s government. 

From one website, I have gathered that NEWater is an efficient way of managing water resources in Singapore, since Singapore have little natural resources, but yet, the reusing of resources factor has been associated with people being disgusted with it thinking that it is very unhygienic. Hence, this common cited factor of disgust towards NEWater had been a difficult obstacle to NEWater. However, there are agreements among some water experts that the lack of water is not of poor governance, but physical lack. When NEWater just started construction, and many people violently objected to it, as they thought recycle water was dirty and might cause diseases. [Ching, 2010]

In a website, it was titled, ‘Would you drink this water’ and in the first few paragraphs it emphasized that the water does not come from springs but from the toilet bowl and yet the writer praised NEWater that that it is a new water-treatment system. It can filter out microscopic bacteria and by the time the wastewater is processed, the clean water meets all the drinking-water standards specified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization. However, the writer mostly did not like something like NEWater in his/her home country, America, as the writer and other americans so not fancy the thought of drinking their own waste water. Yet, the writer also feels that this technology can save many lives as 20% of the world do not have clean water to drink and 400 children per hour is dying from water-borne diseases. [Pikul, 2004]

In another website, the writer found it ridiculous for the Singapore government to want they voters to drink treated waste water. The government did the NEWater campaign very carefully to ensure the water was safe to drink. Since, NEWater was the fourth national tap, besides importing water from Malaysia, running desalination plants, and collecting rainfall through storm-water harvesting. The government know that there was going to be a lot of psychological resistance to NEWater and they knew that they had to send more than a statement of ‘Its safe to drink’ but rather to pitch a message to the country. [Sydney Morning Herald, 2008]

In a particular article, it was written that cleaned-up sewage water is nobody’s first choice for drinking water, but yet, in Singapore, the NEWater plant has became a destination for tourists and citizens. The majority of the public has accepted the concept of drinking treated sewage water as it is cleaned up properly and then blended with reservoir water, giving the NEWater water the ‘water’ taste that people have come to recognize. Since the technology of recycling water has existed for decades, the citizens, PRs and work permit holders trust NEWater more. [Galbraith, 2012]

This is my literature review on the opinions of Singaporeans drinking NEWater.

References:

Leong Ching. (2010). Eliminating ‘Yuck’: A Simple Exposition

of Media and Social Change in Water Reuse Policies. Retrieved from http://www.spp.nus.edu.sg/docs/Asiasia/2011/Leong_Ching-Eliminating-Yuck.pdf

Corrie Pikul. (2004). Would you drink this water?. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/2004/10/22/big_idea_10_22/

The Sydney Morning Herald. (2008). Treated sewage as water? They'll drink to that. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/treated-sewage-as-water-theyll-drink-to-that/2008/06/26/1214472673486.html

Kate Galbraith. (2012). Taking the Ick Factor Out of Recycled Water. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/business/global/26iht-green26.html?_r=0

Done By: Chua Tuan Jin (12)

Class: S2-07

Literature Review - V. Divya Asritha (10)

I am Vaddadi Divya Asritha and this is my Literature Review. Our research is on the attitudes and perspectives of people towards NEWater. 

What is NEWater?

With the Singaporean population growing everyday,there is a need to find alternative to satisfy the human's needs and that is NEWater.

It is a high-grade reclaimed water that has been purified with advanced membrane and ultraviolet technologies. NEWater is ultra-clean; it has passed more than 30,000 scientific tests and surpasses the World Health Organization's requirements for safe drinking water. It is the third "tap" in the "Four National Taps" strategy to provide Singapore with a sustainable and diversified supply of water. The other three taps are water from local catchments, imported water from Malaysia and desalinated water. NEWater is expected to meet 40% of Singapore's water needs by 2020. (Lim, 2010)

Attitudes of people towards NEWater:

To some people, the idea of drinking recycled sewage is akin to eating cockroach-chip ice cream—unthinkable, even if shown to be safe.

There were some reports that had negative tones or opinions about recycled water. Many of the reports were related to how NEWater would affect bilateral relations with Malaysia. Politicians in Malaysia took pot-shots at NEWater, warning their people that the water in Singapore could be unclean and even suggesting that Malaysia should sell sewage and not water to Singapore. 

 Opinion polls were conducted in Queenstown. The results showed that many Queenslanders felt uncomfortable drinking water that came from sewage and industrial waste. (Ching, 2010)

Although reclaiming the water is good,there are also some advantages and disadvantages of NEWater.The first advantage of NEWater is that it help to reduce Singapore's dependence on other countries for imported water.This means that Singapore does not solely depend on Malaysia for water and even if Malaysia were to terminate their Water Contract with Singapore one day,Singapore would not be affected much.The Second advantage is that NEWater helps to maximise the use of water on Earth.Through recycling the water,it helps to maximise the use of resources left on the Earth to ensure that there are sufficent supply to last the future generations.The third advantage of NEWater is that it helps to save space and it is energy efficent which means that money would not be wasted in the process.

The first disadvantage of NEWater is that it is very expensive.It requires a lot of processes to obtain the NEWater which means that a lot of money would have to be spend.The product itself is costly which means that if it was to be sold in supermarkets,it would not be cheap and not many people would be able to afford it.The second disadvantage is that not many Singaporeans are used to the NEWater yet.Most of the Singaporeans are still used to the imported water from Malaysia and it would take a period of time before they get used to the NEWater. The third reason is that many Singaporeans don’t fancy the idea of drinking processed sewage water. (Xinyi, 2010)

References:

Jean Lim. (2010). NEWater. Retrieved from http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1555_2009-08-11.html

Leong Ching (2010). Eliminating ‘Yuck’: A Simple Exposition of Media and Social Change in Water

Reuse Policies (Water Resources Development). Retrieved from http://www.spp.nus.edu.sg/docs/Asiasia/2011/Leong_Ching-Eliminating-Yuck.pdf

Xinyi. (2010, May 7). NEWater(Pros and Cons). Message posted to http://x3pureelement.blogspot.sg/2010/05/newaterpros-and-cons.html

Literature Review- Wong Kang Zhi (24)

Literature Review

What is NEWater 

NEWater is high-grade reclaimed water produced from treated used water that is purified further using advanced membrane technologies, making the water ultra-clean and safe to drink.

NEWater has passed more than 65,000 scientific tests and surpasses World Health Organisation requirements. (PUB, 17 January 2012)

People’s perception towards NEWater

There is actually a survey done after newater was launched. That survey showed a very high level of acceptance. More than 90% of the people polled actually said that they have no problem with newater. (Radio Feature, unknown date)

There was a strong acceptance of NEWater by the public and 60,000 Singaporeans toasted to NEWater at 2002 National Day Parade. An independent survey by Forbes Research at the end of 2002 confirmed the success of the programme. There was a 98% acceptance rate, with 82% of respondents indicating that they would drink NEWater directly and another 16% would drink it mixed with reservoir water. (Madhavan, unknown date)

Reference

(George Madhavan, unknown date). Beyond Tap Water: NEWater wins Public Confidence in Singapore, page 22. http://www.jwwa.or.jp/english/kaigai_shiryou/IWA_workshop_6th_2-5.pdf

(PUB, 17 January 2012). NEWater Technology: NEWater is Reverse Osmosis Water. http://www.pub.gov.sg/water/newater/newatertech/Pages/default.aspx

(Radio Feature, unknown date). Radio Feature 4: Singapore: NEWater. http://www.amic.org.sg/new/adb/radio/4-NEWater.pdf

Gantt Chart

This is the gantt chart that we intend to follow throughout our whole IRS Course. :)

Roles

ROLES
Chua Tuan Jin - Group Leader

Wong Kang Zhi - Blog Manager/ Public Relations Manager

Itmam Azwad -  Secretary

Divya Asritha - Schedule manager

RESPONSIBILITIES
Chua Tuan Jin (Group Leader) - Oversee the whole project, give advise to others according to their roles
Wong Kang Zhi (Blog Manager/ Public Relations Manager) - Communicate with others through the blog
Itmam Azwad (Secretary) - Take weekly notes on discussion
Divya Asritha (Schedule manager) - Time management

IRS Research Proposal

IRS Video :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAsZG1K5f58

Hope you enjoyed it! :D

NEWater RESEARCH JUSTIFICATION

Research Topic: Environment Of Singapore

Chosen Area of Focus: A study of perceptions and attitudes of Singaporeans have towards NEWater.

Framing our research topic:
Our chosen area of focus is “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. Hence, we have chosen this topic to create an awareness about NEWater and that we should not be taking it for granted.
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 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!

Reasons for choice of topic:
NEWater may seem very common among Singaporeans as whenever people ask us how we get our water, we will normally say, “ We get our water from our reservoirs and our water treatment plant-NEWater.” and that answer has become so common that people sometimes take NEWater for granted and think about it as something very common, something without any special features, something that appears useless. Hence, we are researching on NEWater because we think it is special, important to Singaporeans and not something to be taken for granted because without NEWater, there is actually a very big chance that we will be desalinating seawater for fresh water which is a very expensive process and there might also be chances of overspending money for just the water that we are drinking.


Feasibility of the research:

1. There is a need for our research, as many people do not realize the importance of NEWater and hence, tend to look down on it as it made from sewage water. Thus, our research can create an awareness about NEWater and perhaps improve the mindset of the people.
2. It is possible to carry out and complete the project, as there are many people in Singapore who know of NEWater that we can survey on and interview. As most of the people are active on social networking such as FaceBook, we can also conduct online surveys on NEWater
3. The proposed course of action is logical and realistic as it can be completed with the help of some students who would be willing to do a survey,social networking and with our hard work and group effort. :D
4. The research provides sufficient opportunity for generation of ideas, as we will have to come up with ideas to make our research a good and a reliable one. As for analysis and evaluation of ideas, we will certainly have many opportunities to analyze information and evaluate ideas on how to go about deciding what to do next. For example, going to the NEWater plant itself and inquiring.

Manageability of the research:
We will need about 2.5 months and will not need much resources, probably just the internet.
Some people may not want to complete the survey but it should be just a small minority.

Accessibility of the information required:
Our information can be accessed through the references(online websites) but it may not be totally accessible as we may have taken the information and thought of something else which seems better and we might have put it down. Accessibility of our information is and is not reliable but those are the sources where we get the information which is required.

References:
[1] Foo Shu-Yi, Charlene Tan and Jacqueline Seng (n.d.).Radio Feature 4: Singapore: NEWater.Retrieved from http://www.amic.org.sg/new/adb/radio/4-NEWater.pdf
[2] ”Using Reclaimed” (Tuesday 13 August 2002).Reclaimed Water: Singapore introduces NEWater. Retrieved from http://www.source.irc.nl/e_source_news/e_source/source_news_sections/technology_update/reclaimed_water_singapore_introduces_newater
[3] Cassandra Chew (4 May 2010). Newater to meet 40% of Singapore’s needs. Retrieved from http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.sg/2010/05/newater-to-meet-40-of-singapores-needs.html

The final 3 Questions:

1)How do people react to drinking NEWater?
2)Why did Singapore turn to NEWater rather than using other ways?
3)What hassles are faced when producing NEWater currently/at first?
:D