Getting over yuck: moving from psychological to cultural and sociotechnical analyses of responses to water recycling

Water Policy ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart Russell ◽  
Colleen Lux
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Emotional Response ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Sociotechnical Systems ◽  
Water Recycling ◽  
Opportunities To Learn ◽  
Recycled Water ◽  
Primary Determinant ◽  
Cultural Explanation ◽  
People’S Attitudes

Discussion of public reactions to water recycling is now framed around the idea of a ‘yuck factor’: advocates tend to assume an emotional response is the primary determinant of people's attitudes to reuse and they despair of people accepting rational arguments on its merits. Academic and consultancy work in the area has been dominated by particular work from social psychology: theories of disgust, models of attitude causation, and psychometric methods for measuring attitudes and determining the influences on them. This paper questions the models, their assumptions, the methods used to apply and validate them, their implications for change, and the practical consequences of framing the problem this way. It suggests that more fruitful explanations and more effective public engagement both require a shift to a more sociological and cultural explanation, one that examines users’ practices around the sociotechnical systems of providing water and handling waste. The paper concludes there are no compelling arguments or evidence that negative reactions to recycled water cannot change with opportunities to learn about the issues; indeed deliberative consultation mechanisms are essential if people are to reach an informed, reasoned and robust evaluation of the option. The ‘yuck’ discourse is of limited value in explaining public responses and counterproductive in formulating strategies for increasing public support.

Providing information promotes greater public support for potable recycled water

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 86-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly S. Fielding ◽  
Anne H. Roiko
Keyword(s):  
Public Support ◽  
Recycled Water

scholarly journals Now you feel it, now you don’t

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Quadflieg ◽  
Israr Ul-Haq ◽  
Nikolaos Mavridis
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Response ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
People’S Attitudes

Abstract Robots seemingly in possession of an experiential mind, as well as humans allegedly incapable thereof, have been reported to elicit feelings of eeriness in their perceivers. The current work re-examined this claim, asking participants to rate both robots and humans in various social situations regarding their mind capacities (e.g., emotional capability, intelligence), non-mind qualities (e.g., animacy, usefulness), and overall appeal (e.g., eeriness, likeability). It was found that feelings of eeriness towards both targets formed a distinct emotional response that was separable from simple dislike. Yet, unexpectedly, eeriness towards both targets intensified, the less they were seen as possessing a typical human mind. For robots, however, this association was less consistent. Moreover, eeriness towards robots, but not towards humans, was most strongly predicted by a lack of perceived usefulness. These results indicate that mind attributions affect people’s attitudes towards each other more strongly than their attitudes towards humanoid robots.

Climbing the ladder: a step by step approach to international guidelines for water recycling

2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Anderson ◽  
A. Adin ◽  
J. Crook ◽  
C. Davis ◽  
R. Hultquist ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Risks ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
High Technology ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Water Recycling ◽  
Recycled Water ◽  
International Guidelines ◽  
Risk Levels ◽  
International Panel ◽  
International Water

Given the pressures on the world's freshwater resources, recycled water is a valuable resource. Recycled water can increase the reliability of water supply because it is an independent source of water. Water recycling requires effective measures to protect public health and the environment. In the absence of comprehensive international guidelines, different countries have developed different approaches to managing water recycling depending on the understanding of the health risks, their individual economic circumstances, and affordability. Approaches vary between high technology/high cost/low risk and low technology/low cost/controlled risk. Furthermore, differences occur between countries and within individual countries. Inconsistencies can often be traced to lack of a unified scientific position on health effects. These inconsistencies increase public concerns about health risks and may give rise to conservative controls on responses to water recycling projects that some countries may be unable to afford. In this paper, an international panel of authors discusses how the different water recycling approaches might be linked together into international water recycling guidelines. These guidelines would incorporate a uniform approach to assessing hazards and risks while providing flexibility for individual countries to vary requirements to suit local circumstances of affordability and risk. The authors propose a framework of guidelines in which individual countries can progressively improve recycled water quality as lower risk levels become more affordable. The authors argue that a uniform international approach will result in a number of benefits including a better focus on risk management, better targeted research and development efforts and greater public confidence in water recycling. The authors invite discussion on the concepts put forward in the paper.

Achieving Majority Public Support for Urban Road Pricing

2005 ◽  
Vol 1932 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alasdair Cain
Keyword(s):  
Travel Behavior ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Road Pricing ◽  
Major Barrier ◽  
Minimum Requirement ◽  
Urban Road ◽  
Bivariate Correlation ◽  
Primary Determinant

This paper contends that majority opposition from the voting public is the major barrier to urban road pricing implementation. The reason that majority opposition typically exists is investigated at the aggregate level by a consideration of the main factors that determine whether an individual will vote in favor of or against such proposals. Responses to a 2003 survey of southeast Scotland's population were used to assess public views toward Edinburgh's road pricing proposal. Majority opposition to the proposal was observed in aggregate terms. A bivariate correlation analysis showed that car usage was the primary determinant of stated voting behavior. Further analysis showed that a significant majority of car users and non–car users agreed that urban congestion was a significant problem that needed to be reduced and that considerable support existed for implementing road pricing as a way of achieving this. It appears that the public dislike the concept of employing road pricing as a demand management measure and would prefer to view road pricing as a means of raising revenue for public transport improvements, which they believe will lead to congestion being reduced. The paper contends that achieving majority support for urban road pricing implementation requires winning the acceptance of voting car users. The existence of reasonable alternatives to car travel was identified as being crucial to achieving this. Car users who would not change their travel behavior and those who would be forced to change their travel time or destination showed majority opposition; those who would change their travel mode or make fewer trips showed majority support. This finding reinforces the hypothesis that providing high-quality modal alternatives to car users, ahead of road pricing implementation, is a minimum requirement for any proposal seeking to achieve majority support.

Public Engagement in Public Transportation Projects

2015 ◽  
Vol 2537 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Casello ◽  
Will Towns ◽  
Julie Bélanger ◽  
Sanathan Kassiedass
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Light Rail ◽  
Transit Planning ◽  
Public Investments ◽  
Direct Benefits ◽  
In Transit

Public participation for transit projects faces a number of unique challenges compared with many other similar public investments. For example, a smaller subset of the community uses transit on a daily basis as compared with highways; moreover, public transit is seen to be limited—both spatially and demographically—in its appeal. Combined, these factors can limit the widespread engagement of the public in the development and evaluation of transit projects. Further, given the lack of direct benefits from transit, it is often more difficult to garner public support for public transport projects. Specific considerations and techniques are demonstrated that can be undertaken by planners and policy makers to actively engage the community beyond those strongly in favor of or opposed to a transit project. Strategies employed in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, in the context of public engagement before the introduction of light-rail transit are explored. In light of these strategies and the experiences of planners in Waterloo and in conjunction with evidence from the literature, a number of conclusions are drawn regarding an effective framework for engaging a wide spectrum of community members in transit planning.

scholarly journals Delving Into the Details of Evaluating Public Engagement Initiatives Comment on "Metrics and Evaluation Tools for Patient Engagement in Healthcare Organization- and System-Level Decision-Making: A Systematic Review"

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 247-249
Author(s):  
Marion Danis
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Public Support ◽  
System Level ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
Evaluation Tools ◽  
The Public

Initiatives to engage the public in health policy decisions have been widely endorsed and used, yet agreed upon methods for systematically evaluating the effectiveness of these initiatives remain to be developed. Dukhanin, Topazian, and DeCamp have thus developed a useful taxonomy of evaluation criteria derived from a systematic review of published evaluation tools that might serve as the basis for systematic evaluation. In considering the application of such a taxonomy, it is important to appreciate the political space in which health policy decisions occur. In this context, public engagement initiatives are likely to have a modest and unpredictable impact on policy decisions. Other goals, aside from influencing policy decisions, such as informing the public about issues, identifying the public’s values, enhancing public support for decisions, and promoting public discourse, are likely to be more feasible. While Dukanan and colleagues did not aim to do so, future efforts to align guidance for planning public engagement initiatives with evaluation tools would be useful to promote the success of public engagement initiatives.

scholarly journals Meeting the recycled water challenge for Sydney

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
Peter Cox ◽  
Mark Angeles ◽  
Michael Storey
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Water Recycling ◽  
Recycled Water ◽  
National Guidelines ◽  
Considerable Effort ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Health Risk Management ◽  
Intended Use

Sydney Water is seeking to maximise the delivery of recycled water meeting suitable standards for the intended use. The approach of health risk management through the 12 components of the national guidelines for water recycling is used in close consultation with the NSW Department of Health. Considerable effort is being put into demonstrating compliance with the guidelines when they are applied to specific recycling projects.

Water recycling: a major new initiative for Melbourne - crucial for a sustainable future

2003 ◽  
Vol 47 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 57-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Arbon ◽  
M. Ireland
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Water Recycling ◽  
Recycled Water ◽  
Stakeholder Consultation ◽  
Sustainable Future ◽  
Treated Effluent

Melbourne Water has adopted a challenging target of recycling 20 per cent of treated effluent from Melbourne's two major sewerage treatment plants by 2010. This target was adopted in response to key drivers for water recycling in the Melbourne region such as: strong support for conserving water resources and protecting marine environments; acknowledgment of recycled water as a valuable resource; greater emphasis on environmental issues and sustainable management principles; and opportunities to increase demand for recycled water through effective planning mechanisms. Issues that must be effectively addressed to meet the target include: managing public perceptions of recycled water; health and environmental concerns; lack of consensus among government agencies; high up-front costs of infrastructure; and prices of other sources of water supply not currently true costed. Melbourne Water has identified the following factors as critical in determining the success of recycling strategy: ability to demonstrate that water recycling will be important in terms of long term water cycle management; effective stakeholder consultation; gaining government support; establishing long-term, guaranteed markets for recycled water; implementing well planned, large scale recycling schemes; ability to provide a product that meets customer needs; regulatory approval; and implementation of a system that is economically viable. Water recycling initiatives are being investigated on household, local and regional levels. Over 10 proposals that will contribute to the 20 per cent recycled water target from the regional treatment plants are under various stages of development. Melbourne Water's commitment to recycling within a total water cycle management context is a vital component of this major new initiative for Melbourne and is crucial for a sustainable future.

scholarly journals Water quality risk management strategies for remote operations

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 482-489
Author(s):  
K. Northcott ◽  
S. Bartlett ◽  
D. Sheehan ◽  
I. Snape ◽  
P. Scales ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Water Recycling ◽  
Recycled Water ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Australian Water ◽  
Risk Management Strategies

Abstract The delivery of treatment and supply solutions for the management of water infrastructure for small and remote communities presents unique challenges. The identification of water quality hazards, the management of risks and conducting plant performance validation and verification activities can all be problematic. The ‘Demonstration of Robust Water Recycling’ (Robust Recycling) Project was funded by the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence (AWRCoE) and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) as a means of developing strategies for the provision of small scale water treatment schemes from non-traditional water sources. Using the example of the AAD's Davis Station, this project featured an alternative approach to the establishment of a risk management framework for water recycling. This approach may be applicable to both drinking and recycled water schemes in other small and remote communities.

Evolution of water recycling in Australian cities since 2003

2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 792-802 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Radcliffe
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Water Reservoir ◽  
Managed Aquifer Recharge ◽  
Treated Wastewater ◽  
Water Recycling ◽  
Aquifer Recharge ◽  
Recycled Water ◽  
Government Grants ◽  
Desalination Plants ◽  
National Water

The prolonged Australian drought which commenced in 2002, and the agreement between Australia's Commonwealth and States/Territories governments to progress water reform through the National Water Initiative, has resulted in many new recycling projects in Australia's capital cities. Dual reticulation systems are being advanced in new subdivision developments in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Brisbane has installed three large Advanced Water Treatment Plants that are designed to send indirect potable recycled water to the Wivenhoe Dam which is Brisbane's principal water reservoir. Numerous water recycling projects are serving industry and agriculture. Experimental managed aquifer recharge is being undertaken with wetland-treated stormwater in Adelaide and reverse osmosis treated wastewater in Perth. New National Water Quality Management Strategy recycled water guidelines have been developed for managing environmental risks, for augmentation of drinking water supplies, for managed aquifer recharge and for stormwater harvesting and reuse. Many recent investments are part-supported through Commonwealth government grants. Desalination plants are being established in Melbourne and Adelaide and a second one in Perth in addition to the newly-operational plants in Perth, South-East Queensland and Sydney. Despite there being numerous examples of unplanned indirect potable recycling, most governments remain reluctant about moving towards planned potable recycling. There is evidence of some policy bans still being maintained by governments but the National Water Commission continues to reinforce the necessity of an even-handed objective consideration of all water supply options.

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