June 05, 2007

LINCOLN, Neb. — While 91 percent of Nebraska residents feel their drinking water is safe, the Heartland Regional Water Coordination Initiative Survey of Public Perceptions and Attitudes about Water revealed Nebraskans still want to learn more about water.

The survey, mailed in February 2006 to 325 randomly selected households in Nebraska, asked respondents 38 questions about their feelings toward water quality concerns to build knowledge of citizen awareness, attitudes and willingness to act on water issues. Results are based on 209 responses.

Charles Wortmann, UNL nutrient management specialist in the university's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, said the opinions expressed and the high response rate indicate considerable interest and concern about water issues, along with desire for more information.

"Basically, this survey helps us recognize and understand how people see situations, their concerns and where they get and how they prefer to get their information," said Wortmann, who along with Rick Koelsch, UNL livestock bioenvironmental engineer, was on the initiative's leadership team.

The Heartland Regional Water Coordination Initiative is a partnership of UNL, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, the University of Missouri, U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region VII. Similar reports also were prepared for Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and the four-state region.

Nebraska survey results revealed 80 percent of residents were most likely to get water quality information from newspapers, while 69 percent said they got information from television and 52 percent from radio. Almost 40 percent listed UNL Extension as an important source of information.

Seventy-five percent of respondents lived inside a town or city, 16 percent outside a city in a rural area not on a farm and 9 percent lived on farms. Sixty-six percent of respondents had lived in Nebraska all their life.

Nebraska residents who lived on a farm were even more likely than those who lived in cities, towns or rural areas to report using Extension and universities as important sources of information at 87 percent, Wortmann said.

"This really is a credible source for the success of Extension," said Lois Wright Morton, professor of sociology at ISU who prepared the report.

When it came to learning more about water issues, the survey revealed 57 percent of respondents wanted information presented in a newspaper article or series or TV coverage. In addition, 57 percent wanted information presented in printed fact sheets, bulletins or brochures. Only 27 percent would visit a Web site. However, it should be noted that respondents were older on average than the population of Nebraska. Thus responses were more likely to reflect an older population, Morton said.

Other learning opportunities included: looking at a demonstration or display, 21 percent; watching a video, 14 percent; attending a fair or festival, 12 percent; participating in volunteer or one-time learning activity, 10 percent; asking for a water practices assessment, 7 percent; attending a short course, 8 percent; taking a certification course, 6 percent; and being trained for a regular volunteer position, 3 percent.

Of water issues important to Nebraskans, all respondents felt clean drinking water was extremely or very important, followed by 97 percent saying clean groundwater was extremely or very important. Water for households and the private sector, clean rivers and lakes also were highly valued. Forty-one percent felt water for recreation was either extremely important or very important.

While 91 percent of respondents felt their home drinking water was safe to drink, about 69 percent were satisfied with their drinking water. A quarter have a water filter system and 35 percent have a water treatment system. A little more than 30 percent often used bottled water for drinking, while 13 percent were not satisfied with their current drinking water.

Wortmann said results also revealed Nebraskans perceive most pollution comes from cropland or livestock production facilities.

Fourteen percent of respondents felt fertilizers and nitrates were known to affect water quality in Nebraska, while 42 percent suspected it affected water quality in Nebraska. Other conditions believed by respondents to be a problem were pesticides, 9 percent known problem, 33 percent suspected; minerals, 9 percent known, 25 percent suspected; and animal waste, 5 percent known, 26 percent suspected. For all of these conditions, except fertilizer/nitrates, between one-third and one-half of respondents said they didn't know whether any of these conditions affected their water quality.

Respondents also were asked to identify the top three sectors or infrastructures they thought were most responsible for the state's pollution. Two of the top three were agriculturally based – crop production and livestock and/or poultry operations. The third infrastructure thought to be most responsible for existing pollution problems in rivers and lakes was water from urban areas.

Fifty percent of those who live on farms felt crop production was most responsible, and 56 percent of those who live on farms felt livestock and/or poultry operations were to blame. Fifty-nine percent of those who live inside a town or city and 66 percent of those who live in a rural area not on a farm also felt this way about crop production, while 57 percent of those who live inside a town or city and 63 percent of those who live in a rural area not on a farm felt this way about livestock and/or poultry operations.

However, the survey also found those who lived on farms do more to conserve or protect water quality, such as changing pesticide and fertilizer use, testing drinking water or changing the way their yard was landscaped.

"Another interesting finding was who people saw as being responsible for ensuring we have clean water," Wortmann said.

With urban dwellers, most thought state or local government should be most responsible for protecting local water quality, while those who lived on farms felt it was an individual responsibility.

"Both urban and rural and rural-non farm people view issues similarly, but there are issues they don't agree on. Knowing this information will allow groups to find the problem and find a common agreement," Morton said.

Nebraskans want more information on drinking water and human health, Wortmann said. The farm population also wants more information on agricultural water management, irrigation management, pesticide management and how to better handle manure, while the rural non-farm residents are very interested in private well and septic tank management.

"The biggest finding for the entire population as a whole was that many Nebraskans have given a great deal of thought to water and environmental issues," Wortmann said.

For complete survey results, visit the Web at Heartland Water Quality.

Extension is in the university's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

This survey is part of a national project conducted by Robert Mahler, professor of soil and environmental sciences at the University of Idaho. The project was funded by USDA CSREES.

6/5/07-SAK

Charles S. Wortmann - Ph.D.
Agronomy & Horticulture
Professor
(402) 472-2909

Rick Koelsch - Ph.D.
Biological Systems Engineering; Animal Science
Associate Professor
(402) 472-4051

Sandi Alswager Karstens
IANR News and Photography
(402) 472-3030

Department: Agronomy & Horticulture