Water quality and the perception of risk: A study of Georgia, USA, beachgoers

Jones, Jeff; Aslan, Aslı; Trivedi, Rakhi; Olivas, Maria I.; Hoffmann, Mikayla

doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.03.031

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“… These data reflect the perceptions of beach water quality drawn from a convenience sample of 238 visitors to Georgia (USA) beaches collected in June–July 2017 and are related to the research article entitled “Water quality and the perception of risk: a study of Georgia, USA, beachgoers” (Jones et al, 2018) [1] . Data were collected both via an online survey distributed through Facebook and through in-person questionnaires collected directly on the beaches.…”

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confidence: 79%

Data on the risk perceptions of beach water safety in coastal Georgia

et al. 2018

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These data reflect the perceptions of beach water quality drawn from a convenience sample of 238 visitors to Georgia (USA) beaches collected in June–July 2017 and are related to the research article entitled “Water quality and the perception of risk: a study of Georgia, USA, beachgoers” (Jones et al., 2018) [1]. Data were collected both via an online survey distributed through Facebook and through in-person questionnaires collected directly on the beaches.

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confidence: 79%

Data on the risk perceptions of beach water safety in coastal Georgia

et al. 2018

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“…This issue seems to stem from more than just a lack of knowledge of who is responsible for monitoring water quality at beaches, but rather suggests that most beach users make the decision of entering a bathing water based upon their own perception of the water quality, e.g. by how 'clean' it looks or smells (Pratap et al, 2013;Jones et al, 2018). Constantly having a prediction of "Poor" water quality at a beach can also cause user fatigue (Kim and Grant, 2004), and may lead beach users to dismiss or ignore water quality predictions, leading to a public health risk as users wilfully ignore warnings that are considered out of date or overly cautious.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The disparity between regulatory measurements of E. coli in public bathing waters and the public expectation of bathing water quality

Taylor

Oliver

2019

Journal of Environmental Management

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be willing to accept suggested a significant misunderstanding of the BWD classification system, with the majority (91 %) of respondents finding only a < % risk level acceptable. The 'Good' classification is much less stringent in terms of likelihood of GI. This study has shown that the current public understanding of the BWD classifications in terms of exposure risk and public health is limited, and an investment in methods for disseminating information to the public is needed in order to allow beach-users to make more informed decisions about using bathing waters.

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“…There are several studies that analyse people's perception of water quality in the context of, for example, drinking water [11,13,[37][38][39][40], lifestyle disruption and recreational activities [28,41], surface water sources in different water usage situations [4,[42][43][44], and agricultural water usage [26,[45][46][47]. Water-related risk perception and the perception of water quality are integrally connected [11,13].…”

Section: Factors Affecting People's Perception Of Water Quality and Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The farmers' health perceptions could arise from concern over the health effects of their own food or the possible negative impacts that poor water quality could have on their ability to sell their food and make economic profits at the market [27]. Moreover, swimming and direct access to the rivers or lakes with other recreational activities demonstrates the level of trust people must have in their water sources, and this is affected by their perception of the quality of water [23,28]. People who are reluctant to access the water source perceive swimming as being linked to health risks [28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, swimming and direct access to the rivers or lakes with other recreational activities demonstrates the level of trust people must have in their water sources, and this is affected by their perception of the quality of water [23,28]. People who are reluctant to access the water source perceive swimming as being linked to health risks [28]. Therefore, an assessment of the farmers' perceptions of water quality and health-related risks, risks related to the social and economic impacts on their sale of agricultural products, and lifestyle disturbance (e.g., swimming) is important in order to evaluate the farmers' awareness of the environmental risks and to integrate their opinions into policy decisions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Farmers’ Perception of Water Quality and Risks in the Mashavera River Basin, Georgia: Analyzing the Vulnerability of the Social-Ecological System through Community Perceptions

et al. 2018

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Competing natural resources usage that leads to dramatic land use changes can threaten the balance of a social-ecological system. When this is the case, communities are directly exposed to the negative consequences of those land use changes. The Mashavera River Basin is considered one of the hotspots of environmental pollution in Georgia. This is of importance for public health because the food production from this basin meets a substantial proportion of the country’s food demand. The farmers’ perception of the water quality and their perceived risks to the economy, health, and lifestyle reflect the status of the environmental and social conditions. The inclusion of farmers’ risk perceptions is an important stage of water quality governance that could enable active civic participation. The approach of this research study was the convergence model in the triangular design of the mixed method approach. As part of the social data, the research study was conducted with a survey of 177 households, for which agriculture was either a main or partial source of income. A few focus group discussions were also conducted. A binary logistic regression analysis was employed as the main method for the analysis. The results from the pollution load index (PLI) were used as the supportive data to verify some geospatial hypotheses. We found that aesthetic attributes (i.e., color changes observed in the river) and the source of the water contamination (i.e., mining sites) were the main predictor variables for a perceived risk to water quality, health, and livelihoods. The people who work in agriculture as the main income source had more concern about their ability to sell their agricultural products as a result of water contamination in the river, compared with people for whom agriculture is a secondary source of income or for self-consumption. Age, amount of land, years of agricultural experience, and the source of water supply for agriculture did not have a significant effect on any of the risk perception or water quality perception models. The results indicate that the health risk is perceived more strongly in areas with more heavily contaminated water compared to less polluted areas. We propose that conducting a public risk perception assessment is an ideal means to detect people’s concerns regarding water quality governance for future risk analysis in Georgia. Another recommendation of this study is an integrated model of risk assessment that combines the results from a public risk perception assessment and a technical assessment. The benefits of such an integrated assessment include finding new hazard-sensitive areas for further analysis, the possibility to cross-check data for verification, communal communication of hazardous conditions by utilizing local knowledge, and the direct participation of the community in monitoring risks.

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Water quality and the perception of risk: A study of Georgia, USA, beachgoers

Cited by 9 publications

References 11 publications

Data on the risk perceptions of beach water safety in coastal Georgia

Data on the risk perceptions of beach water safety in coastal Georgia

The disparity between regulatory measurements of E. coli in public bathing waters and the public expectation of bathing water quality

Farmers’ Perception of Water Quality and Risks in the Mashavera River Basin, Georgia: Analyzing the Vulnerability of the Social-Ecological System through Community Perceptions

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