Risk perception from the consumption of untreated drinking water in a small island community

Nik Hassan, Nik Muhammad Nizam, Hunter, Paul R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5608-6144 and Lake, Iain R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4407-5357 (2022) Risk perception from the consumption of untreated drinking water in a small island community. Journal of Water and Health, 20 (10). pp. 1506-1516. ISSN 1477-8920

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Abstract

A small island community in Malaysia uses gravity-fed drinking water, and rejected water treatment by the authorities. This study was conducted to evaluate the community's risk perception towards their untreated water supply by interviewing one adult per household in four out of eight villages on the island. The survey asked questions on risk perception, socioeconomic characteristics, and perception of water supply quality. Water samples were collected from a total of 24 sampling locations across the four villages, and 91.7% of them were positive for E.coli. The study surveyed 218 households and found that 61.5% of respondents agreed to some degree that the water is safe to drink without treatment, while 67.9% of respondents disagreed to some degree that drinking tap water is associated with health risks, and 73.3% of respondents agreed to some degree that it is safe to drink directly from taps that are fitted with water filters. Using factor analysis to group the risk perception questions and multivariable GLM to explore relationships with underlying factors, the study found that older respondents, lower income level, positive water odour perception and positive water supply reliability perception lowers risk perception. The village of residence also significantly affects the risk perception level in the model.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding information: This research was funded by Ministry of Health Malaysia.
Uncontrolled Keywords: water science and technology,public health, environmental and occupational health,microbiology (medical),waste management and disposal,infectious diseases,sdg 6 - clean water and sanitation,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2312
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Water Security Research Centre
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Epidemiology and Public Health
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023)
University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Social Sciences
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 15 Dec 2022 03:57
Last Modified: 19 Oct 2023 03:29
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/90105
DOI: 10.2166/wh.2022.100

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