Public Concern about Water Safety, Weather, and Climate: Insights from the World Risk Poll.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Public Health
• Risk Perception Studies

Background:

• Global water safety is threatened by climate change and severe weather, impacting billions. Public perception of these risks is vital for behavior change but often overlooked. Cross-national comparisons of water safety risk perception are limited.
• Limited access to safe drinking water affects billions, with climate change exacerbating the threat. Public understanding of the connection between environmental changes and water safety is crucial for effective mitigation and adaptation strategies.
• Water safety, defined by the absence of dangerous contaminants, faces increasing global threats from climate change and extreme weather. Public perception studies have largely focused on single countries, hindering international comparisons.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between concern for severe weather and climate change and concern for water safety across diverse global populations.
• To assess whether concern for severe weather or climate change is a stronger predictor of water safety concern.
• To provide cross-national insights into public risk perception regarding water safety and environmental threats.

Main Methods:

• Utilized survey data from the 142-country 2019 Lloyd's Register Foundation World Risk Poll.
• Employed mixed-effects models to analyze the predictive power of severe weather concern and climate change concern on water safety concern.
• Included data from 21 low-income and 34 lower-middle-income countries to ensure broad applicability.

Main Results:

• Concern for severe weather was a significantly stronger predictor of water safety concern than concern for climate change.
• Both severe weather concern and climate change concern showed positive associations with water safety concern.
• The findings were robust across different model specifications and country-level variations in protection against unsafe drinking water.

Conclusions:

• Communicators and policymakers should emphasize the link between worsening severe weather and water safety in public messaging.
• Improving public understanding of how environmental changes impact water quality can encourage behaviors that enhance water safety.
• Strengthening the perceived connection between severe weather events and drinking water safety is key for effective public health campaigns and policy development.