I’ve never felt more ignorant than this week.

Attending the talks, lectures and business forums during the Singapore International Water Week has enlightened me on the absolute enormity of the water problem. I don’t know how I wasn’t aware of it– it’s like missing the fact that I’ve got daisies growing on my forehead.

How did I not know that humanity’s water sources were so stretched?

Sure, I’ve seen the news about bush fires in Australia, about the droughts and the media went crazy over the energy crisis and climate change. It just seems that in all the frenzy, the connection all these had with the looming water problem was pushed aside.

Who would’ve thought that solar energy required water? I’d always assumed it was just the sun, and photovoltaic cells. How much more information has been glossed over?

Yesterday, after sitting in on the Black & Veatch round table, I realised how much is being done. How companies have been trying to find new ways to obtain water, and get it approved.

The resistance that large organizations have to some of the measures floored me.

One thing discussed was the ‘yuck factor’. Essentially, people just find the thought of drinking water that may have passed through their own bodies repulsive.

Can people afford to be picky? Maybe growing up in Singapore, where natural water resources are scarce, has made me more pragmatic about drinking ‘toilet to tap’ water.

It wasn’t until yesterday that it came to light how much the PUB did to make the transition into use of NEWater as smooth as possible. One word with negative connotations could have changed everything. As Mr Khoo, the CEO of PUB said, “We only had one chance.”

Thank goodness for that one chance, then.

Not that Singapore’s completely accepted NEWater… Before coming to the SIWW, a doctor asked me if it was true that dogs didn’t drink NEWater. (They do, don’t they?)

Posted by Maria Adrianna