Public perception of drinking water source protection

Climate change is reducing water resources in many parts of Australia. Increasingly, higher risk sources are either being developed or being considered for development as public drinking water sources. There is a rising demand from the community for additional recreation facilities and subsequent access to drinking water catchments, as they are predominantly close to urban areas. These competing factors place substantial pressure on public water utilities to ensure the provision of safe drinking water. As the health risk profile increases, there is a need for additional barriers which may include new or upgraded water treatment facilities.

This report covers the methodological development in the WaterRA project Public Perception of Source Protection and Its Relationship to Recreation and Water Treatment. It aims to develop a nationally applicable methodology to assist in the formulation of defensible policy which provides for drinking water source protection while accounting for recreational needs in surface water catchments in Australia.

This book is co-published with Water Research Australia .
 

Table of Contents

Introduction; Literature Review and Research Framework; The Social Context of Drinking Water Catchment Protection; Conclusions; Scoping Phase; Interviews with Professionals; Stakeholder Focus groups; The Relationship between Sport and Recreation Policies and Drinking Water; Cost Implications for Additional Treatment Associated with Recreation in Drinking Water Catchments; Survey Phase; The Three Samples; The Questionnaire; Summary of Findings from the WA Case Study; Risk-Benefit Assessment Phase; Risk-Benefit Assessment Method; References; Appendix 1 Notes of Scoping Interviews with Professionals in WA; Appendix 2 Outcomes of Scoping Focus Group with General Community in WA; Appendix 3 Outcomes of Scoping Focus Group with Recreators from Formal Groups in WA; Appendix 4 Report of the Survey Phase of the WA Case Study; Appendix 5 The Hierarchical Framework Developed for the Risk-Benefit Assessment in the WA Case Study

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