Drivers of an urban community’s acceptance of a large desalination scheme for drinking water

Abstract

s u m m a r yChanging climates and growing populations have prompted policy makers to shift to more climate resilient, technology-driven water sources, such as seawater desalination. Desalination is a prominent water resource in the Middle East but countries in other parts of the world with similar scarcity issues and good access to sea water, such as Australia, have been comparatively slow to adopt it. This paper explores attitudes to desalination in Perth, Western Australia, and the factors that influence its acceptance. We compared individuals' acceptance of desalination over two time periods by using identical surveys administered in 2007 and 2012. We then examined the attitudinal factors -attitudes towards desalination and attitudes towards the environment -that influence acceptance. Acceptance of desalination was reasonably high and stable at both times (74% and 73% in 2007 and 2012 respectively). We found that respondents' attitudes to perceived outcomes and benefits, fairness, environmental obligation and risk were important predictors of their acceptance of desalination in both surveys. However the weight given to these aspects varied over time. The findings show that there is still mixed community sentiment towards desalination, which helps to explain why acceptance has not increased since desalination was introduced in 2006.

Predictors of local support for a seawater desalination plant in a small coastal community

“…Perceived negative impacts from the plant were the strongest predictors reducing support for seawater desalination in our study. This finding is similar to the results of Gibson et al (2015) who also found that perceptions about outcomes predicted support for proposed desalination plants. Perceived environmental impacts in our study included impacts on the marine ecosystem…”

“…More than 70% of sampled residents supported the seawater desalination plant, which is similar to findings of Gibson et al (2015) who reported 73% and 74% support for future desalination plants in Perth, Australia, in 2007 and 2012. Perth, a large urban region, already receives about 39% of its water from two desalination plants (Water Corporation 2014).…”

“…Studies on actual or forthcoming projects are even more limited. One study by Gibson et al (2015) explored public acceptance of expanding desalination in Perth, Australia. The authors compared the influence of attitudinal and socio-demographic factors on public voting behavior for or against additional desalination plants in Perth in 2007 and 2012 and found support for the expansion of desalination in both years (74.5% in 2007 and 73.4% in 2012) but the drivers of acceptance changed over time.…”

The Use of Non-Conventional Water Resources as a Means of Adaptation to Drought and Climate Change in Semi-Arid Regions: South-Eastern Spain

“…Desalination is already a reality on much of the Mediterranean coast and it has even acquired the label of an ordinary supply source. Various authors have debated the role that may be played by desalination in water policy [14,20,21,[57][58][59]. As Baldwin and Uhlman [60] affirm, desalination may contribute to improving water security and it may become a secure source of long-term resources, with the flexibility that its production can decrease in the event of abundancy of other sources and increase in the case of drought episodes.…”

Management priorities for seawater desalination plants in a marine protected area: A multi-criteria analysis

“…Such an assessment is critical to account for local preferences in the planning of desalination plants and to facilitate a more systematic approach to the planning of new facilities. While previous studies have investigated public attitudes towards desalination plants [24,30,41] and the acceptance of using desalinated water [19][20][21]65], an understanding of coastal stakeholders' management priorities for seawater desalination plants is lacking.…”