Journal
RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING
Volume 150, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.104419
Keywords
Recycled water; Public opinion; Knowledge gap; Contaminant concern; Water insecurity
Categories
Funding
- Boston University Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer Range Future
- National Science Foundation Design of Materials Program [1727316]
- Div Of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufact Inn
- Directorate For Engineering [1727316] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Water recycling is one potential solution to meeting the growing global demand for water in an age of dwindling freshwater supplies. However, public opposition has played a key role historically in blunting the broad implementation of water recycling technologies across the United States. Addressing public concerns and overcoming this opposition is critical to the political viability of water recycling programs as a response to growing water insecurity. This analysis builds on existing research on Americans' attitudes toward water recycling in three ways. First, it explores public understanding of basic elements of water recycling and identifies important gaps in public knowledge. Second, it examines the factors that most concern Americans about water recycling. Finally, it investigates how knowledge, specific concerns, and a range of other factors, including Americans' environmental priorities, local context, partisan leanings, and demographic characteristics, combine to influence attitudes toward recycled water. The results identify several promising targets for future educational outreach efforts to build public support for water recycling projects. Policy-relevant knowledge is the single most important predictor of support for water recycling. Yet, there is a stark knowledge gap between a highly informed few and an unaware majority. Bridging this gap could greatly increase support for water recycling. Concerns about sewage contamination were most corrosive to support for water recycling, making them a prime target for further outreach. Finally, our results suggest that future educational campaigns may seek to decouple water scarcity and climate change in the public mind to avoid exacerbating existing cleavages.
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