Risk perception from the consumption of untreated drinking water in a small island community

Abstract

A small island community in Malaysia uses gravity-fed drinking water, and rejected water treatment by the authorities. This study was conducted to evaluate the community's risk perception towards their untreated water supply by interviewing one adult per household in four out of eight villages on the island. The survey asked questions on risk perception, socioeconomic characteristics, and perception of water supply quality. Water samples were collected from a total of 24 sampling locations across the four villages, and 91.7% of them were positive for E.coli. The study surveyed 218 households and found that 61.5% of respondents agreed to some degree that the water is safe to drink without treatment, while 67.9% of respondents disagreed to some degree that drinking tap water is associated with health risks, and 73.3% of respondents agreed to some degree that it is safe to drink directly from taps that are fitted with water filters. Using factor analysis to group the risk perception questions and multivariable GLM to explore relationships with underlying factors, the study found that older respondents, lower income level, positive water odour perception and positive water supply reliability perception lowers risk perception. The village of residence also significantly affects the risk perception level in the model.

Survey on Water Source Classification based on users’ opinions: Case of the Al-Hoceima region, Northern Morocco

“…However, despite the presence of E. coli in this source water, the respondents state that there are no health problems or intestinal troubles associated with the use of this source water and they have been using it for years without any treatment (chlorination, boiling, etc.). Another study confirms the health risk of consuming untreated water, hence the need to treat water before consumption [17,18]. This is due to customs, to the fact that it does not have chemical treatment; it is good for cooking, especially for leguminous plants, and also for intestinal transit and the fight against gas, which is favoured by the presence of chlorine in ONEE water, as the interviewees affirm.…”