The Role of Emotions in Drinking Recycled Water

Abstract

Abstract:As global freshwater supplies shrink, recycled drinking water (RDW) has become an increasingly important source of water supply. However, RDW remains an underinvested resource despite being a safe and reliable source of water. The dominant hypothesis is that RDW has been rejected on emotional grounds of disgust, a visceral psychological reaction known as the "yuck" factor. This paper investigates the role of emotions in technical decision-making and applies it to RDW implementation. It tests two specific hypotheses. First, that negative emotions affect the policy process through a negative "goal definition" of the problem, making it unattractive to stakeholders. Second, the emotional quality of policies can be manipulated by policy entrepreneurs. These hypotheses are tested on two cases of RDW-one failed and the other successful. It finds that narratives in the former are relatively low in emotional intensity, with themes such as sustainability and governance, whereas the second case displays narratives charged with anger, social injustice, and disgust. This emphasizes the role of narratives, especially when visceral reactions such as disgust and anger interact with larger social and political discourses. Finally, we offer policy implications on how understanding the role of emotions can help in the implementation of RDW.

Research on the Influencing Mechanism of Traditional Cultural Values on Citizens’ Behavior Regarding the Reuse of Recycled Water

“…Among them, Gibson & Burton's study has found that the use purpose of reclaimed water and exposure extent to the human are important factors that affect public willingness to accept reclaimed water reuse [5]. People's nauseous reaction to reclaimed water is the so-called "yuck factor", which has also been found as an important indicator of the willingness of people to accept reclaimed water [6][7][8]. There are also other scholars devoted to discovering the differences at the individual level and predicting the reusability of reclaimed water.…”

Trans-boundary variations of urban drought vulnerability and its impact on water resource management in Singapore and Johor, Malaysia

“…Only one out of 3300 registered water reclamation projects worldwide, located in Windhoek, Namibia, is for direct potable use [56][57][58]. Widespread public scepticism towards drinking treated wastewater can be attributed to emotional grounds of disgust, a visceral psychological reaction known as the 'yuck' factor [59,60]. As an approach to reduce drought vulnerability, it remains to be seen if Singapore can eventually complete the transition to direct supply of recycled water for potable domestic use.…”

Fuzzy Comprehensive Assessment Method Based on the Entropy Weight Method and Its Application in the Water Environmental Safety Evaluation of the Heshangshan Drinking Water Source Area, Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China

“…The reservoirs of drinking water are important areas for the people who depend on them. Therefore, ensuring that drinking water areas remain clean is an important issue in the field of water environmental management, ecological protection, and economic and social growth [3][4][5]. Water environmental safety evaluation is a scientific and effective approach to identifying potential risks, assessing the safety level, and determining the water supply capacity of drinking water source areas [6,7].…”