Not all information is informative: An exploration of educational content on recycled potable water knowledge and...

As drought and water shortages threaten access to safe water supplies globally, finding ways to increase public acceptance of recycled water has become increasingly important. Educational interventions have often been explored as a potential method to help overcome public distaste for recycled water. However, in past research, the effects of educational interventions have tended to be modest, leading to some skepticism over the ability of public information campaigns to truly increase acceptance. We propose that, at least in part, these modest effects of education may be driven by differences in the ability of some types of educational content to increase recycled water knowledge and subsequent acceptance (e.g., some content may be too complex for a lay audience or may be insufficient to adequately address the concerns that drive one's apprehension towards recycled water). Thus, we developed and tested an educational video split into four distinct areas of educational content related to potable water reuse: (1) need for recycled water, (2) approaches to implementing recycled water (e.g., through direct, indirect, or de-facto reuse), (3) purification technology, and (4) locations and testimonials of actual implementation. In two experiments (Ns = 711, 385), we found that content illustrating approaches to implementing recycled water and locations using it led to medium to large increases in knowledge and acceptance. These results imply that given limited time and resources, brief information about these topics may increase acceptance better than alternative information. Moreover, these results underscore a need to more carefully consider the content used in educational campaigns, as not all information is equally likely to produce desired effects.