When it comes to water, clean drinking water is king.
Research from the PIE Center shows clean drinking water is the most important concern Floridians have about water. The first installment of the PIE Center’s quarterly public opinion surveys measured residents’ perceptions of specific water issues such as groundwater quality and saltwater intrusion, as well as clean oceans, rivers or lakes.
PIE Center researchers Alexa Lamm and Tracy Irani, faculty in the UF/IFAS Department of Agricultural Education, asked nearly 470 Floridians about their opinions on water. The vast majority of respondents, 93.0 percent, said that good-tasting and safe drinking water was either highly or extremely important.
“That came out pretty loud and clear,” Lamm said. “We need to make sure when we’re communicating with the public that we bring up water quality as something we’re interested in addressing, because members of the public like those in this survey obviously have a personal connection with the quality of their water.”
Clean drinking water outranked clean beaches and oceans in terms of the overall level of importance.
Floridians reported they experienced poor drinking water in their home more frequently than any other poor water quality issue, including closed beaches or prohibitions on eating fish.
Across the state, 22.0 percent of Floridians said they encountered unsafe or unsavory tap water at home. Poor drinking water was more frequent in coastal regions, with 27.1 percent of those respondents identifying the problem.
The personal importance of having clean and safe drinking water ensures the issue will stay at the forefront of Floridians’ minds, Lamm said.
“People don’t like being limited on what they can do based on water quality,” she said. “It brings personal awareness, because they’ve come face to face with being limited in their own recreation or activities or in worrying about drinking water from their tap. All of a sudden, water quality becomes a creeping issue in their mind.”
