Tap water perceptions and water filter use vary with socio-demographic characteristics and are associated with water and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in university students

Abstract

Objective The goal of this study is to evaluate university students’ perceptions of tap water safety and water filter use, and determine how these perceptions and behaviors affect water and sugar sweetened beverage intake. Design Cross-sectional; online survey conducted in Fall 2021. Setting A large, public Midwestern university in the United States Participants 793 undergraduate students Results Students who experienced food insecurity, were on a Pell grant, were first generation college students or were racial/ethnic minorities were less likely to trust tap water safety. Tap water filtration behavior also varied by age and race/ethnicity. Students who did not agree with the statement “my local tap water is safe to drink” had lower odds of consuming ≥3 cups of total water per day (OR=0.45, 95% CI: 0.32, 0.62), lower odds of consuming tap water ≥3 times/day (OR=0.46, 95% CI: 0.34, 0.64), higher odds of drinking bottled water ≥1 time per day (OR=1.80, 95% CI: 1.22, 2.66), and higher odds of drinking SSBs ≥1 time per day (OR=1.47, 95% CI: 1.01, 2.14) than those who agreed. Students who always or sometimes filtered their tap water had lower odds of consuming ≥3 cups of total water per day (OR=0.59, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.90) than students who never filtered their tap water. Conclusions Tap water perceptions and behaviors affect tap and bottled water and SSB intake among university students. Tap water perceptions and behaviors in this demographic provide important context for university programming promoting healthy beverage initiatives.