Vision and perception of community on the use of recycled water for household laundry: A case study in Australia

Bandita Mainali, Thi Thu Nga Pham, Huu Hao Ngo*, Wenshan Guo, Clayton Miechel, Kelly O'Halloran, Muthu Muthukaruppan, Andrzej Listowski

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study investigates the community perception of household laundry as a new end use of recycled water in three different locations of Australia through a face to face questionnaire survey (n=478). The study areas were selected based on three categories of (1) non-user, (2) perspective user and (3) current user of recycled water. The survey results indicate that significantly higher number (70%) of the respondents supported the use of recycled water for washing machines (χ2=527.40, df=3; p=0.000). Significant positive correlation between the overall support for the new end use and the willingness of the respondents to use recycled water for washing machine was observed among all users groups (r=0.43, p=0.000). However, they had major concerns regarding the effects of recycled water on the aesthetic appearance of cloth, cloth durability, machine durability, odour of the recycled water and cost along with the health issues. The perspective user group had comparatively more reservations and concerns about the effects of recycled water on washing machines than the non-users and the current users (χ2=52.73, df=6; p=0.000). Overall, community from all three study areas are willing to welcome this new end use as long as all their major concerns are addressed and safety is assured.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)657-666
Number of pages10
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume463-464
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Community
  • End use
  • Household laundry
  • Perception
  • Recycled water
  • Vision

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