3.1. Public Awareness on Water Resources and Reclaimed Water Reuse
According to the survey, the residents of Beijing are cognizant of the city’s water supplies and wastewater treatment situations: 75% of the respondents realize that the city is facing a severe water shortage; 70% of the respondents are aware of the massive municipal wastewater collection and treatment infrastructures; and 97% of the respondents recognize the public health hazards and needs of properly treating and disposing of municipal wastewaters (
Table 2). However, 76% of respondents do not know the sources of Beijing’s water supply, 60% do not know the primary generators of Beijing’s wastewater, and 97% do not know which sectors in the city consume the largest volume of water. The public inclines to blame the industrial sector for causing the water shortage and water pollution. Additionally, 42% and 55% of the respondents thought industries are the biggest water consumers and the primary sources of municipal wastewater in Beijing, respectively. In reality, Beijing’s population of over 20 million residents by default consumes more water and generates a greater volume of wastewater than any other socio-economic sectors. Overall, the public lacks accurate knowledge on the water resources of Beijing and there is room for improvement.
Table 2.
The public’s responses to the posted questions on water resources and uses in Beijing.
Table 2.
The public’s responses to the posted questions on water resources and uses in Beijing.
Question | Preferred option | Correct option |
---|
Main water source | Surrounding rivers or reservoirs (56.16%) | Groundwater (24.47%) |
Largest field of water consumption | Industry (41.57%) | Irrigation (2.86%) |
Water shortageor not | Severe water shortage (75.07%) | Same as preferred option |
Main wastewater source | Industrial wastewater (54.58%) | Domestic water(39.73%) |
Where municipal wastewater goes | Sewage treatment plant (70.12%) | Same as preferred option |
Sewage needs treatment or not | Yes (97.47%) | - |
Household waste water or not | No (71.07%) | - |
Community waste water or not | Yes (63.59%) | - |
Be able to reduce water consumption | Yes (78.96%) | - |
Would like to reduce water consumption | Yes (81.07%) | - |
Would like to pay for water treatment | Yes (73.88%) | - |
About 70% of the respondents feel that domestic consumptions are essential and the users are not responsible for the shortages in the city, but the majority of them feel that they can conserve water (79%) and would like to reduce water consumption (81%). Meanwhile, 64% of respondents hold the viewpoints that public uses such as landscaping irrigation and street cleaning are excessive and wasteful. These findings suggest that there is room for conserving water, the public is not well informed regarding water uses, and their viewpoints about various water users may be biased. As the capital of China, Beijing may represent the optimistic case in public awareness on water resources and reclaimed water reuse. The government has not paid much attention to public outreach until recent years. Thus, public opinions may be distorted by unofficial media.
Water rates may influence domestic water consumption and may be a means to encourage water conservation. The majority of the respondents feel that the current rate is reasonable (40%) or somewhat high (38%). A small portion of the respondents view the current rate being either very high (6%) or too low (10%) (
Figure 1a). With increasing water prices in recent years, residents pay more attention to water conservation, and managers of parks and companies show higher interest in using reclaimed water. Water price is critical in expending the water reuse. Currently, the reclaimed water price is kept at 1 RMB per ton, roughly 17% of that of the city’s public water, far from adequate to recuperate capital investments and operation costs of the water reuse system. Reasonable water rates are necessary for promoting water saving and water reuse.
Figure 1.
The public’s knowledge on water supply and wastewater in Beijing.
Figure 1.
The public’s knowledge on water supply and wastewater in Beijing.
Further developments in water resources may cause adverse environmental impacts. Approximately 11% and 40% of the respondents express strong and intermediate commitment, respectively, to environmental protection, while 38% and 11% of the respondents show successively less enthusiasm toward protecting the environment (
Figure 1b). If the public’s perspective and consciousness on environmental protection becomes more favorable, it may be an incentive in promoting the water conservation and reclaimed wastewater reuse.
Beijing over the years has made great efforts to disseminate information on water reuse. The overall public awareness on water reclamation is high. About 90% of the respondents are aware of the ongoing wastewater reclamation and reuse (
Figure 1c) and point to the fact that reclaimed water may be used for toilet flushing, car washing, landscape irrigation,
etc. The majority of the respondents (64%) acquired the knowledge through public information messages from television and radio media. Less effective, though, 18%, 13%, and 5%, of the respondents, respectively, learned about water reuse through community outreach, personal contacts, or other means (
Figure 1d).
The individual’s willingness to accept non-body contact and non-potable reuse of the reclaimed wastewater is overwhelming (
Table 3). Over 90% of the respondents are willing to accept or strongly endorse reclaimed water for toilet flushing, fire protection, landscape irrigation, street cleaning, industrial cooling, ornamental lakes, and car washing. Even crop irrigation and domestic uses (except for drinking and food preparation) are acceptable to 82% of respondents. Collectively, the support based on the aggregated willingness scores according to Equation (1) ranges from 3.51 to 3.04, between the score of 4 for strongly agree and the score of 3 for acceptable. The public is less enthusiastic about the potentially potable reuse options, especially for supplementing the domestic water supply, which is deemed unacceptable by 63.3% of the respondents.
Table 3.
The public’s acceptance of reclaimed water reuse options.
Table 3.
The public’s acceptance of reclaimed water reuse options.
Reuse Category | Strongly agree (%) | Acceptable (%) | Unwilling (%) | No comment (%) | Aggregated willingness factor (a) |
---|
Non-body contact and non-potable reuses | Toilet flushing | 63.17 | 29.84 | 1.6 | 5.39 | 3.51 |
Firefighting | 59.24 | 34.93 | 0.58 | 5.24 | 3.48 |
Landscape irrigation | 58.22 | 35.66 | 0.58 | 5.53 | 3.47 |
Street cleaning | 59.68 | 32.31 | 2.18 | 5.82 | 3.46 |
Industrial cooling water | 57.93 | 35.08 | 1.31 | 5.68 | 3.45 |
Landscape fountain | 55.17 | 36.54 | 3.2 | 5.09 | 3.42 |
Car cleaning | 55.9 | 33.19 | 6.26 | 4.66 | 3.4 |
Park water supplement | 46.29 | 40.47 | 8.01 | 5.24 | 3.28 |
Agriculture irrigation | 42.07 | 40.17 | 14.12 | 3.64 | 3.21 |
Non-potable and non-cooking domestic uses | 26.93 | 56.48 | 10.04 | 6.55 | 3.04 |
Potentially potable reuses | River flow supplement | 44.69 | 35.08 | 16.3 | 3.93 | 3.21 |
Groundwater recharge | 34.93 | 35.37 | 24.6 | 5.09 | 3.00 |
Supplementing drinking water supply | 8.44 | 25.04 | 63.32 | 3.2 | 2.39 |
Average | 28.09 | 61.43 | 7.42 | 3.06 | 3.15 |
Overall, the extent of Beijing residents’ willingness to accept reclaimed wastewater reuse in their community is remarkable. The results were in line with other findings that willingness to reuse appears as a descending trend as reclaimed water use transits from public to private [
8,
14,
18,
19]. Improving renewable water quality and expanding the knowledge-related publicity are effective ways to increase the degree of willingness to use recycled water.
3.2. Perception of Stakeholder Professionals on Reclaimed Water Reuse
The stakeholder professionals including managers, producers and operators, and researchers are overwhelmingly positive about the reclaimed water reuse. Among them, 81% strongly believe the benefits of water reuse and the remaining 19% of the respondents feel that the reclaimed water reuse is acceptable (
Figure 2a). They overwhelmingly (96% of the respondents) support technology advancements of wastewater reclamation (
Figure 2c). On the prospect of reclaimed water (
Figure 2b), the responses are: 50% strongly confident, 46% slightly optimistic, 2% unsure, and 2% pessimistic about the future of water reuse.
Figure 2.
Reponses of Beijing’s water reuse professionals to questions on recycling reclaimed water.
Figure 2.
Reponses of Beijing’s water reuse professionals to questions on recycling reclaimed water.
We employed a 1-to-5 scale to probe the aggregate viewpoints of professionals on water reuse with 5 being strongly in favor and 1 being strongly in disagreement (
Table 4). From the professional point of view, the stakeholders understand the critical need for developing new water resources for Beijing and collectively feel that recycling reclaimed wastewater is beneficial for the city (aggregate score = 4.78). They are optimistic toward the official water reuse program (aggregate score = 4.44), and support advanced technology developments for recycling water (aggregate score = 4.95). In comparison to manufacturers and operators, researchers were more optimistic on reclaimed water reuse, which may be due to their closer contact with the latest environmental developments and their good understanding about the urgency of water scarcity and pollution. The reason that manufacturers and operators had lower confidence in the future of reclaimed water reuse may be because they were quite familiar with the current situation of water reuse and promotion in Beijing, knowing the difficulty of advancing reclaimed water very well.
Table 4.
Average degree of recognition and willingness of different stakeholder professionals on reclaimed water.
Table 4.
Average degree of recognition and willingness of different stakeholder professionals on reclaimed water.
Question | Manager | Manufacturer and operator | Researcher | Mean value (a) |
---|
Reclaimed water is usable | 4.60 | 4.73 | 5.00 | 4.78 |
Reclaimed water is of good prospect | 4.50 | 4.27 | 4.55 | 4.44 |
Be supportive of advancing reclaimed water | 4.90 | 5.00 | 4.95 | 4.95 |
Risks are not significant | 3.70 | 2.68 | 3.27 | 3.22 |
It is essential to manage risks | 5.00 | 4.73 | 4.86 | 4.86 |
Direct or indirect potable uses | 3.50 | 2.27 | 2.32 | 2.70 |
Direct human contact uses | 3.90 | 3.32 | 2.64 | 3.28 |
Non-potable and non-touching uses | 4.60 | 4.95 | 4.86 | 4.81 |
The stakeholders of water reuse programs incline to favor non-body contact and non-potable reuse options, and avoid those having the potential risk implications of potable reuse (
Figure 2d–f). The managers, producers and operators, and researchers exhibit different perspectives on cost effectiveness, system performances, and environmental sustainability [
11]. Those in managerial positions who are promoting and implementing the policies tend to be more optimistic and are willing to push the water reuse programs further, especially for body-contact and potentially potable reuses. The researchers, producers, and operators who are at the frontlines dealing with research and development issues and reuse process routines tend to be more cautious and considerably less enthusiastic of the body-contact and potable reuses (
Table 4).
3.3. Perception on Risks Associated with Reclaimed Water Reuse
Stakeholders are aware of the public health and environmental pollution risks that come along with water reuse, and view risk control as essential in the implementation and management of water reuse projects (
Table 4). Furthermore, 43% of the stakeholder respondents feel that health and environmental risks are not significant issues, with the remainder divided between those uncertain of the risks and those who view the risks as being serious (28 %
vs. 29%) (
Figure 2g), and the overwhelming majority of the respondents (87%) agree that steps to minimize risks are imperative (
Figure 2h).
The water reuse program in Beijing is unique in that the effluents of the municipal wastewater treatment systems are through a contractual agreement turned over and sold to a revenue-supported intermediary entity, which is solely responsible for upgrading and marketing the reclaimed water to users across the city. The stakeholder respondents identify four areas in the water reuse programs where potential public health and environmental risks may arise (
Table 5). Additionally, 66% of the respondents are concerned that reclaimed water producers and marketers often fail to deliver the water of promised quality to the downstream. Risks may also stem from the inappropriate uses by those acquiring the reclaimed water (an issue raised by 59% of the respondents) and inadequate quality controls during the course of quality upgrading operations (an issue raised by 54% of the respondents). Finally, the conveyance and storage stage of reclaimed wastewater may also result in contamination due to cross connections, leakages, and accidental spills (an issue raised by 41% of the respondents). Judging from the responses, although the water reuse stakeholder professionals in Beijing are committed to the idea of reusing reclaimed wastewater, they are not entirely comfortable with the reliability and effectiveness of the wastewater treatment and reclaimed water marketing operations that are the backbone of a successful reuse program (
Table 5). These results are closely related with stakeholders’ roles in water reuse development and their understandings of water reclamation.
Table 5.
Sources of public and environmental risks of using reclaimed water in Beijing, according to the opinions of local water reuse professionals.
Table 5.
Sources of public and environmental risks of using reclaimed water in Beijing, according to the opinions of local water reuse professionals.
Source | Responded Positive (%) | Cause | Responded Positive (%) |
---|
Wastewater | 66 | Origin of wastewater | 83 |
Treatment efficiency and reliability | 48 |
End uses | 59 | Quality of reclaimed water | 72 |
End use categories | 46 |
Production/operation | 54 | Treatment technology | 83 |
Accidental spills | 44 |
Equipment malfunction | 35 |
Conveyance and storage | 41 | Cross-connection | 59 |
Pipeline leakage and corrosion | 46 |
Backflow | 19 |
3.4. Factors Affecting Public and Stakeholders Awareness on Reclaimed Water Reuse
The general public and stakeholder professionals’ responses to different survey questions are affected by their social-economic backgrounds (
Table 6). Occupation is a significant factor (at
p < 0.01) for the general public in correctly answering three of the six questions about knowledge of Beijing’s water resources. Those holding public sector jobs appear to pay more attention to such activities than those working in the private sectors or who are self-employed. The respondent’s awareness of the water resource issues is also significantly affected (at
p < 0.01) by age, income, and education factors. Older, higher-income, and well-educated individuals are better informed and have more reasonable expectations of what the water supply system can deliver to them. Gender does not appear to affect the outcomes.
The general public’s viewpoints on how water is used throughout the city are divided (at p < 0.01 or p < 0.05 significant levels) by age, gender, occupation, income, and education factors. Older, less-educated, female, and self-employed respondents tend to feel that water is being wasted across the spectrum. Older respondents (at p < 0.01) especially feel that there is room for water conservation in the city. When asked to reduce their water consumption, the female (at p < 0.01), higher-earning (at p < 0.05), and more educated (at p < 0.05) respondents are more willing to participate than the others. Again, older (at p < 0.01), more educated (at p < 0.01), higher-income (at p < 0.01), and public sector (at p < 0.01) respondents are concerned more about the environmental impacts of water resource development and express greater willingness to pay for the water. The younger, less educated, and lower-income respondents appear to be indifferent one way or the other in terms of water reuse.
Table 6.
Social-economic factors that affected views on water reuse.
Table 6.
Social-economic factors that affected views on water reuse.
Category | Question | Significant Demographic Factor (a) |
---|
Public’s knowledge on water resources | Regarding to Beijing’s water sources | Age ** Occupation ** |
Regarding to water consumption trends in Beijing | None |
Regarding to Beijing’s water shortage | Education ** Occupation ** Income ** |
Regarding to Beijing’s wastewater production trends | Occupation ** Education * |
Where does municipal wastewater go? | Income * |
Do municipal wastewater need treatment? | Age * |
Public’s opinion on water uses | Is your household wasting water? | None |
Is Beijing wasting water? | Age *, Occupation *, Education* |
Can Beijing’s water consumption be reduced? | Age ** |
Would you like to reduce water consumption? | Gender ** Education * Income* |
Are you willing to pay for water treatment? | Income ** Education * Occupation * |
Are you concerned about environment problems? | Age ** Occupation ** |
Is the water rate high? | Age ** Education ** Income ** |
Public’s perception on reclaimed water | Are you aware of the reclaimed water reuse in Beijing? | Education **Income ** Occupation * |
Where do you get the information from? | Age ** Occupation * Income * |
Public’s willingness to use reclaimed water | Drinking water supplement | Age ** Income ** |
River supplement/Groundwater recharge | Age * |
Non-potable household uses/firefighting | Income **Education * |
Park water supplement/agriculture irrigation/car cleaning | Income * |
landscape irrigation/road cleaning/public toilet flushing/industrial cooling water/landscape fountain | Education ** Income ** |
Stakeholder’s perception on reclaimed water | Role of reclaimed water | Education ** Income ** Gender* |
Prospect of reclaimed water | Education * Occupation * |
Support of reclaimed water | - |
Stakeholder’s opinions on risks of reclaimed water | Risk significant or not | Occupation ** Age ** |
Build-up of risk management system | - |
Stakeholder’s willingness to reclaimed water reuses | Non-potable and non-touching uses | - |
Direct touching uses | Income * |
Direct or indirect potable uses | Occupation * |
Allowed to choose how the reclaimed water would be used, the respondents have strong preferences toward non-body contact and non-potable water reuse options (
Table 6). Respondents with higher incomes, more education, and who are older (age 35 to 55) are more optimistic about the future of water reuse, but they are less supportive of the riskier potable reuse options. A survey from the San Diego County Water Authority showed that there was a shifting of public opinion on the potable reuse of reclaimed wastewater between 2004 and 2011. Those who “strongly oppose” using reclaimed water that has received advanced treatment to augment the drinking water supply dropped from 45% in 2004 to 11% in 2011 [
20] through unyielding public outreach efforts. Beijing undoubtedly must wage credible outreach efforts to convince the population to embrace water reuse.
The water reuse professionals are more realistic and practical in terms of the roles of reclaimed wastewater in Beijing. Their perceptions and expectations are less likely to be influenced by social-economic factors such as personal income, gender, and occupation. However, the technical knowledge (reflected in the education levels) and experience (reflected in the age factor) are significant factors (
Table 6). This group occupies the management and technical decision-making positions in the water reuse programs. As a result, despite the official policy push to implement water reuse, the implementation approach has been cautious and progress has been slow.