Abstract
Perceptions of drinking water safety shape numerous health-related behaviors and attitudes, including water use and valuation, but they are not typically measured. We therefore characterize self-reported anticipated harm from drinking water in 141 countries using nationally representative survey data from the World Risk Poll (n = 148,585 individuals) and identify national- and individual-level predictors. We find that more than half (52.3%) of adults across sampled countries anticipate serious harm from drinking water in the next two years. The prevalence of self-reported anticipated harm is higher among women (relative to men), urban (relative to rural) residents, individuals with self-reported financial difficulties (relative to those getting by on their present income), and individuals with more years of education. In a country-level multivariable model, the percentage of the population reporting recent harm from drinking water, percentage of deaths attributable to unsafe water, and perceptions of public-sector corruption are associated with the prevalence of self-reported anticipated harm. Consideration of users’ perspectives, particularly with respect to trust in the safety and governance of water services, is critical for promoting effective water resource management and ensuring the use, safety, and sustainability of water services.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 7320 |
| Journal | Nature communications |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2024 |
Funding
J.D.M. was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers T32DK007686 and F31HD113400-01, respectively. C.S. (Grant # R00068) and W.BdB. (Grant # TWRP100007) received support from the Lloyd\u2019s Register Foundation, a charitable foundation helping to protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement, and the application of research. J.B.L. was supported by Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the National Science Foundation (Award # 2310382). J.B.L. and S.L.Y. were supported by the Buffett Institute for Global Studies at Northwestern University and the National Science Foundation (Award # 2319427). S.L.Y. was also supported by the Carnegie Foundation, a Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professorship, and the Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Action (IMMANA) program, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). IMMANA was co-funded by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) (Grant # 300654) and by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (INV-002962/OPP1211308). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funders. Funders had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report. We gratefully acknowledge Gallup for their efforts to collect survey data.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry
- General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
- General Physics and Astronomy
