College of Business, University College Dublin, Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland; Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
College of Business, University College Dublin, Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland; Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
J Environ Manage. 2020 Aug 1;267:110654. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110654. Epub 2020 Apr 30.
Mismanagement of drinking water supplies can pose serious public health risks. There are many concerns about water source management among private well owners, as they are often solely responsible for maintaining their wells, and monitoring and testing of their own water quality. Lack of worry about contamination and a strong sense of control over risks in relation to drinking water quality have been identified as important factors that influence peoples' perceptions and behaviour. In this paper, we investigated how worry and perceived control moderate the influence of risk perceptions on water quality perceptions and well owners' maintenance behaviours. We compare a sample of private well owners (N = 167) with a sample of members of Group Water Schemes (GWS) (N = 160) and people who are supplied via the public mains (N = 195), to validate our results. We found that, in comparison to the other groups, well owners believe that water from private wells is superior and they express a higher level of control over contamination risks of their drinking water. Moreover, strong feelings of control suppress their perceptions of risk in relation to water quality. However, well owners who feel largely in control also maintain their well more frequently. We discuss the implications of these results for communication strategies with well owners.
饮用水供应管理不善可能会对公众健康造成严重威胁。私人水井拥有者对水源管理存在许多担忧，因为他们通常独自负责维护自己的水井，并监测和测试自己的水质。对污染的担忧不足以及对与饮用水质量相关的风险的强烈控制感已被确定为影响人们认知和行为的重要因素。在本文中，我们调查了担忧和感知控制如何调节风险认知对水质认知和水井所有者维护行为的影响。我们比较了私人水井所有者（N=167）样本、团体供水计划（GWS）成员（N=160）样本和通过公共供水管网供水的人（N=195）样本，以验证我们的结果。我们发现，与其他群体相比，水井所有者认为私人水井中的水更好，并且对其饮用水污染风险的控制程度更高。此外，强烈的控制感抑制了他们对水质风险的感知。然而，感到自己能够很好地控制的水井所有者也会更频繁地维护水井。我们讨论了这些结果对与水井所有者沟通策略的影响。
