Generally, the public has a strong reaction to the concept of wastewater reuse. Two different
surveys were conducted to assess the public's perception of wastewater reuse. The purpose of
the first survey was to define the public's estimation of risk associated with wastewater reuse.
Subjects were asked to evaluate wastewater reuse and nine other risks both within and outside of
the drinking water domain.
The results of the first survey show that wastewater reuse was considered a novel risk, subject to
a high degree of uncertainty. Subject's ratings of their "dread" of wastewater reuse exceeded
even the "dread" rating elicited by nuclear power, a risk well known to generate extreme public
reactions. Previous researchers have cited this "dread" reaction as being an important
determinant of the public's perception of the acceptability of technological risk. However, this
does not appear to be the case with wastewater reuse. Despite the high "dread" rating a majority
of subjects rated the risk of wastewater reuse as being "acceptable".
The second survey was a short questionnaire designed to assess the public's perception of
wastewater reuse in comparison to other water sources and the associated costs. Subjects were
asked whether they favored or opposed wastewater recycling if it could increase water supply
without increasing water rates. The results of the second survey show that the public generally
favored recycling wastewater as an alternative to higher priced water sources.
The public has mixed reactions to wastewater reuse. On the one hand, reuse generates extremely
unfavorable emotional reactions. However, a majority of subjects did not let their overall
assessment of the risk be greatly influenced by these emotional considerations. In fact, both
surveys indicate the public appears to have confidence in the ability of water treatment processes
to safely reclaim wastewater for direct reuse.
The public remains uneasy with direct reuse of wastewater and this will likely pose a substantial
barrier to the more widespread reuse of wastewater. However, a majority of the subjects view
the practice as "acceptable", though unappealing, indicating that there may be circumstances
under which they would support the reuse of wastewater for drinking water. Includes 10 references, table, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 310 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 11 |
| Published : | 01/11/2004 |
