Is recycled water use risky? An Urban Australian community’s perspective

Abstract

The emergence of a global water crisis has seen the necessity for a sustainable approach to water management. Policies directed towards water recycling have been implemented in many regions of the world. In Australia, prolonged drought conditions in most major cities during the past decade have led to serious national calls for less drinking water to be used (Prime Minister's Science Engineering and Innovation Council, 2003), and a strategic policy response from many State Governments, including bold targets for water recycling. A key consideration to the realisation of these policies is greater understanding of community attitudes to recycled water use, without which, a number of recycled water projects have failed (Hurlimann and McKay, 2004). Despite the critical nature of community attitudes, little research has been conducted, especially in relation to perception of risk, which has been found to be critical in the adoption of new technologies (Cvetkovich and Lofstedt, 1999). This paper investigates an urban Australian community's perception of risk involved with using recycled water. Key findings include: perception of risk increased as the use of recycled water became increasingly personal. Perception of risk was significantly negatively related to trust, perception of fairness and information. Trust in the Water Authority to manage risk was significantly related to perception of trust, communication and integrity of the Authority.

Issues Affecting Community Attitudes and Intended Behaviours in Stormwater Reuse: A Case Study of Salisbury, South Australia

“…Community acceptance is crucial to the success of water reuse schemes [9,19]. Although generally the community is supportive of water reuse, this support declines when the end use of recycled water involves closer personal contact [3,10,19,20].…”

“…Although generally the community is supportive of water reuse, this support declines when the end use of recycled water involves closer personal contact [3,10,19,20]. Previous works on stormwater use indicated that there is no exception to this trend for stormwater use [21].…”

“…Previous works on stormwater use indicated that there is no exception to this trend for stormwater use [21]. Meanwhile, attitudes to using recycled water is conditional on several factors, such as perceived health risk related to using the water, trust in authorities which provide information about the water, and the quality attributes of the water [10,19].…”

“…Community acceptance to recycled water was found to be related to the perceived risk of using the recycled water [10,19,22]. The perceived risk was found to be significantly related to a lack of trust in the local water authority and a perception of being poorly informed throughout the process [19].…”

“…There was a strong relationship between trust in the local water authority to manage risks associated with a recycled water project, and the communication of information, the perception of integrity, and a belief that the water authority had a vested interest in the project [19]. Consequently, community acceptance can be greatly enhanced by readily supplying accurate information in a fashion perceived to be transparent and fair to local residents [19].…”