Understanding stewardship behaviour: Factors facilitating and constraining private water well stewardship

Kreutzwiser, Reid; Loë, Rob de; Imgrund, Krystian; Conboy, Mary Jane; Simpson, H.C.; Plummer, Ryan

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.11.017

Cited by 97 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Studies of private well users in Canadian populations have found complacency, inconvenience, privacy concerns and limited household resources as primary barriers to testing. 18, 19 Similarly, we found factors relating to social norms and risk perceptions were most often cited as reasons for not testing. Optimistic bias to believe that oneself is at less risk than others is pervasive.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

“…Previous research from across the United States has shown that while messages are well intentioned the public is often confused about how often and when to test. 10,18 Some states have begun to develop policies such as mandatory testing at the sale of a property or at the time of new well construction, however, these policies are dependent on population mobility and new construction to initiate or monitor water quality testing. 14, 20 Additional research into motivators and barriers to testing in a general population sample of well users could provide important insights into how best to target intervention and policy strategies to promote well stewardship.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Private-well stewardship among a general population based sample of private well-owners

Malecki

Schultz

Severtson

et al. 2017

Science of The Total Environment

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Private well stewardship, including on-going testing and treatment, can ensure private well users are able to maintain source-water quality and prevent exposures to potentially harmful constituents in primary drinking water supplies. Unlike municipal water supplies, private well users are largely responsible for their own testing and treatment and well stewardship is often minimal. The importance of factors influencing regular testing, and treatment behaviors, including knowledge, risk perception, convenience and social norms, can vary by geography and population characteristics. The primary goals of this study were to survey a general statewide population of private well users in Wisconsin in order to quantify testing and treatment patterns and gather data on motivations and barriers to well stewardship. The majority of respondents reported using and drinking well water daily but only about one half of respondents reported testing their wells in the last ten years and of these, only 10% reported testing in the last 12 months. Bacteria and nitrates were contaminants most often tested; and, a private laboratory most often conducted testing. The most commonly reported water treatment was a water softener. Living in a particular geographic region and income were the most significant predictors of water testing and treatment. Iron and hardness, which influence water aesthetics but not always safety, were the most commonly reported water quality problems. Health concerns or perceived lack thereof were, respectively, motivators and barriers to testing and treatment. Limited knowledge of testing and treatment options were also identified as barriers. Results confirm previous findings that well stewardship practices are minimal and often context specific. Understanding the target population’s perceptions of risk and knowledge are important elements to consider in identifying vulnerable populations and developing education and policy efforts to improve well stewardship.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Private-well stewardship among a general population based sample of private well-owners

Malecki

Schultz

Severtson

et al. 2017

Science of The Total Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…That are also temporally stable, such as socioeconomic status (US Environmental Protection Agency, 1984;Evans and Kantrowitz, 2002). Previous studies have also investigated the relationship among education, private well water stewardship and poor outcomes including lack of well disinfection, testing and maintenance (Kreutzwiser et al, 2010(Kreutzwiser et al, , 2011. Additionally, physical well attributes could be a factor as previous studies show that poorly constructed, shallower and older wells are most susceptible to contamination Kreutzwiser et al, 2010;Hynds et al, 2012;Allevi et al, 2013;Swistock et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the outbreak in Walkerton, numerous policies and public health actions have been implemented to prevent future outbreaks in municipal water supplies (Ontario Ministry of the Environment, 2009). However, the quality and maintenance of private well water systems remains the responsibility of the owner (Kreutzwiser et al, 2011). In Canada, approximately three to four million, or 1 in 10 persons rely on private well water sources (Statistics Canada, 2011), which remain vulnerable to contamination and should be properly monitored (Charrois, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A spatial analysis of private well water Escherichia coli contamination in southern Ontario

et al. 2013

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Abstract.Research to date has provided limited insight into the complexity of water-borne pathogen transmission. Private well water supplies have been identified as a significant pathway in infectious disease transmission in both the industrialised and the developing world. Using over 90,000 private well water submission records representing approximately 30,000 unique well locations in south-eastern Ontario, Canada, a spatial analysis was performed in order to delineate clusters with elevated risk of E. coli contamination using 5 years of data (2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012). Analyses were performed for all years independently and subsequently compared to each other. Numerous statistically significant clusters were identified and both geographic stability and variation over time were examined. Through the identification of spatial and temporal patterns, this study provides the basis for future investigations into the underlying causes of bacterial groundwater contamination, while identifying geographic regions that merit particular attention to public health interventions and improvement of water quality.

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“…The phenomena of local environmental stewardship has been studied in numerous different contexts, including forests (English et al 1997;Adhikari et al 2007;Kilgore et al 2008;Messier et al 2015), freshwater (Shandas and Messer 2008;Kreutzwiser et al 2011), grasslands and rangelands (Appiah-Opoku 2007;Squires 2012;Sayre et al 2013;Henderson et al 2014), rural agricultural landscapes (Worrell and Appleby 2000;Plummer et al 2008;Ellis 2013;Gill 2014;Raymond et al 2015), urban environments (Krasny and Tidball 2012;Connolly et al 2014;Romolini et al 2016), fisheries (Gray and Hatchard 2007;McConney et al 2014;van Putten et al 2014;Medeiros et al 2014) and coastal or marine habitats (Sharpe and Conrad 2006;Friedlander et al 2013;Silbernagel et al 2015). These studies tend to focus their analysis either on a subset of the different factors that can support or undermine stewardship -for example, on ethics, motivations, capacity, institutions, networks, context-or simply on whether or not action is being taken to steward the environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Stewardship: A Conceptual Review and Analytical Framework

Bennett¹,

Whitty²,

Finkbeiner³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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There has been increasing attention to and investment in local environmental stewardship in conservation and environmental management policies and programs globally. Yet environmental stewardship has not received adequate conceptual attention. Establishing a clear definition and comprehensive analytical framework could strengthen our ability to understand the factors that lead to the success or failure of environmental stewardship in different contexts and how to most effectively support and enable local efforts. Here we propose such a definition and framework. First, we define local environmental stewardship as the actions taken by individuals, groups or networks of actors, with various motivations and levels of capacity, to protect, care for or responsibly use the environment in pursuit of environmental and/or social outcomes in diverse social–ecological contexts. Next, drawing from a review of the environmental stewardship, management and governance literatures, we unpack the elements of this definition to develop an analytical framework that can facilitate research on local environmental stewardship. Finally, we discuss potential interventions and leverage points for promoting or supporting local stewardship and future applications of the framework to guide descriptive, evaluative, prescriptive or systematic analysis of environmental stewardship. Further application of this framework in diverse environmental and social contexts is recommended to refine the elements and develop insights that will guide and improve the outcomes of environmental stewardship initiatives and investments. Ultimately, our aim is to raise the profile of environmental stewardship as a valuable and holistic concept for guiding productive and sustained relationships with the environment.

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Understanding stewardship behaviour: Factors facilitating and constraining private water well stewardship

Cited by 97 publications

References 43 publications

Private-well stewardship among a general population based sample of private well-owners

Private-well stewardship among a general population based sample of private well-owners

A spatial analysis of private well water Escherichia coli contamination in southern Ontario

Environmental Stewardship: A Conceptual Review and Analytical Framework

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