Water security determines social attitudes about dams and reservoirs in South Europe

Abstract

River barriers affect river dynamics and aquatic biota, altering the entire ecosystem. Nevertheless, dams and reservoirs provide goods like water supply and low-carbon energy that are becoming increasingly critical under current climate change. To know to what extent dams and reservoirs are important to the population, we explored social attitudes towards dams and reservoirs using a face-to-face questionnaire in two regions of contrasting climate and water security in Spain, a country with one of highest densities of dams in Europe. Results (N = 613) revealed a higher support for dams, mediated by the recognition of the services they provide, in the drier Mediterranean Malaga province (Andalusia), than in the wetter Atlantic Asturias province (Bay of Biscay), where water shortages are rare. Awareness of the impacts of the dams was more pronounced in Malaga, coupled with a higher willingness to pay for reconnecting rivers. Social awareness of both impacts and services provided by dams and reservoirs may depend on local climate and water security; different dam acceptance emphasizes the need to involve local citizens in the decision-making processes about water management.

Greater willingness to reduce microplastics consumption in Mexico than in Spain supports the importance of legislation on the use of plastics

“…This study has some limitations; the first of which was the use of only one questionnaire version, with items presented in a given order (Dopico et al, 2022 ). Although the results were solidly supported by statistics, doubts about the possible effect of locating questions concerning behavior intentions at the end of the questionnaire persist.…”

Application of Fuzzy Composite Programming in a Questionnaire as a Methodological Test to Study the Effect of Reservoir Management on Social Interests—A Survey Based on Two Case Studies in Southern Germany

“…This can be understood in a sense that a distinct focus on support, but also opposition, resistance, agreement and participation can impact policy making by displaying an accurate (qualitative) comparable number of approval/disapproval of certain managerial points, which may foster sustainability of reservoir management in the future (Batel et al 2013 ). FCP may in this sense be a feedback opportunity for other methodological approaches to gain insights on social perception as in interview and traditional questionnaire approaches (Dopico et al 2022 ; Salinas et al 2019 ; Pirog et al 2019 ; Daus et al 2019 ). To put the FCP approach in perspective, it may benefit transdisciplinary research question in which the understanding of objectivist and constructivist understandings come together.…”

“…Therefore, this paper aims to introduce the methodology of FCP (Andras Bárdossy et al 1985 ; András Bárdossy and Duckstein 1992 ), mathematically based in fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory (Carter et al 2021 ; Esteban Indurain et al 2018 ), by directly approaching people with expert knowledge on managerial aspects of (hydroelectric) reservoir systems in southern Germany to promote initial results about possible conflicting issues. Previous research on the perception and implications of reservoirs and dams use interview data (Daus et al 2019 ; Piróg et al 2019 ) and questionnaires (Dopico et al 2022 ) and are mostly carried out at case study perspectives (Salinas et al 2019 ). FCP may present a possibility to enhance the methodological options in this field.…”

Intuitionistic fuzzy DEMATEL for developing causal relationship of water security

“…Additionally, for global projection, local regions and nations may create their unique correlations between socioeconomic variables and water security. Recently, Dopico et al (2022) investigated the relationship between water security and social attitudes. This group of researchers used a face-to-face questionnaire to examine social attitudes about dams and reservoirs in two locations with different climates and water security in Spain to determine the extent to which dams and reservoirs are essential to the public.…”