Jain Meha, Lim Yili, Arce-Nazario Javier A, Uriarte María
Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America.
Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico in Cayey, Cayey, Puerto Rico, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2014 Feb 28;9(2):e88059. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088059. eCollection 2014.
Identifying which factors influence household water management can help policy makers target interventions to improve drinking water quality for communities that may not receive adequate water quality at the tap. We assessed which perceptional and socio-demographic factors are associated with household drinking water management strategies in rural Puerto Rico. Specifically, we examined which factors were associated with household decisions to boil or filter tap water before drinking, or to obtain drinking water from multiple sources. We find that households differ in their management strategies depending on the institution that distributes water (i.e. government PRASA vs community-managed non-PRASA), perceptions of institutional efficacy, and perceptions of water quality. Specifically, households in PRASA communities are more likely to boil and filter their tap water due to perceptions of low water quality. Households in non-PRASA communities are more likely to procure water from multiple sources due to perceptions of institutional inefficacy. Based on informal discussions with community members, we suggest that water quality may be improved if PRASA systems improve the taste and odor of tap water, possibly by allowing for dechlorination prior to distribution, and if non-PRASA systems reduce the turbidity of water at the tap, possibly by increasing the degree of chlorination and filtering prior to distribution. Future studies should examine objective water quality standards to identify whether current management strategies are effective at improving water quality prior to consumption.
确定哪些因素影响家庭用水管理有助于政策制定者针对那些可能无法从水龙头获得足够水质的社区进行干预，以改善饮用水质量。我们评估了在波多黎各农村地区，哪些认知因素和社会人口因素与家庭饮用水管理策略相关。具体而言，我们研究了哪些因素与家庭在饮用前煮沸或过滤自来水，或从多个水源获取饮用水的决策相关。我们发现，根据供水机构（即政府的波多黎各水务局[PRASA]与社区管理的非PRASA）、对机构效能的认知以及对水质的认知，家庭的管理策略存在差异。具体来说，由于对水质较低的认知，PRASA社区的家庭更有可能煮沸和过滤自来水。由于对机构效能较低的认知，非PRASA社区的家庭更有可能从多个水源获取水。基于与社区成员的非正式讨论，我们建议，如果PRASA系统改善自来水的味道和气味（可能通过在供水前进行脱氯处理），以及如果非PRASA系统降低水龙头处水的浊度（可能通过在供水前增加氯化和过滤程度），水质可能会得到改善。未来的研究应检查客观的水质标准，以确定当前的管理策略在改善消费前的水质方面是否有效。
