Public perception of drinking water safety in South Africa 2002-2009: a repeated cross-sectional study

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dc.contributor.authorWright, Jimen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorYang, Hongen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorRivett, Ulrikeen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorGundry, Stephenen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-10-28T06:37:18Z
dc.date.available2015-10-28T06:37:18Z
dc.date.issued2012en_ZA
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND:In low and middle income countries, public perceptions of drinking water safety are relevant to promotion of household water treatment and to household choices over drinking water sources. However, most studies of this topic have been cross-sectional and not considered temporal variation in drinking water safety perceptions. The objective of this study is to explore trends in perceived drinking water safety in South Africa and its association with disease outbreaks, water supply and household characteristics. METHODS: This repeated cross-sectional study draws on General Household Surveys from 2002-2009, a series of annual nationally representative surveys of South African households, which include a question about perceived drinking water safety. Trends in responses to this question were examined from 2002-2009 in relation to reported cholera cases. The relationship between perceived drinking water safety and organoleptic qualities of drinking water, supply characteristics, and socio-economic and demographic household characteristics was explored in 2002 and 2008 using hierarchical stepwise logistic regression. RESULTS: The results suggest that perceived drinking water safety has remained relatively stable over time in South Africa, once the expansion of improved supplies is controlled for. A large cholera outbreak in 2000-02 had no apparent effect on public perception of drinking water safety in 2002. Perceived drinking water safety is primarily related to water taste, odour, and clarity rather than socio-economic or demographic characteristics. CONCLUSION: This suggests that household perceptions of drinking water safety in South Africa follow similar patterns to those observed in studies in developed countries. The stability over time in public perception of drinking water safety is particularly surprising, given the large cholera outbreak that took place at the start of this period.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationWright, J., Yang, H., Rivett, U., & Gundry, S. (2012). Public perception of drinking water safety in South Africa 2002-2009: a repeated cross-sectional study. <i>BMC Public Health</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14419en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationWright, Jim, Hong Yang, Ulrike Rivett, and Stephen Gundry "Public perception of drinking water safety in South Africa 2002-2009: a repeated cross-sectional study." <i>BMC Public Health</i> (2012) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14419en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationWright, J. A., Yang, H., Rivett, U., & Gundry, S. W. (2012). Public perception of drinking water safety in South Africa 2002–2009: a repeated cross-sectional study. BMC public health, 12(1), 556.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Wright, Jim AU - Yang, Hong AU - Rivett, Ulrike AU - Gundry, Stephen AB - BACKGROUND:In low and middle income countries, public perceptions of drinking water safety are relevant to promotion of household water treatment and to household choices over drinking water sources. However, most studies of this topic have been cross-sectional and not considered temporal variation in drinking water safety perceptions. The objective of this study is to explore trends in perceived drinking water safety in South Africa and its association with disease outbreaks, water supply and household characteristics. METHODS: This repeated cross-sectional study draws on General Household Surveys from 2002-2009, a series of annual nationally representative surveys of South African households, which include a question about perceived drinking water safety. Trends in responses to this question were examined from 2002-2009 in relation to reported cholera cases. The relationship between perceived drinking water safety and organoleptic qualities of drinking water, supply characteristics, and socio-economic and demographic household characteristics was explored in 2002 and 2008 using hierarchical stepwise logistic regression. RESULTS: The results suggest that perceived drinking water safety has remained relatively stable over time in South Africa, once the expansion of improved supplies is controlled for. A large cholera outbreak in 2000-02 had no apparent effect on public perception of drinking water safety in 2002. Perceived drinking water safety is primarily related to water taste, odour, and clarity rather than socio-economic or demographic characteristics. CONCLUSION: This suggests that household perceptions of drinking water safety in South Africa follow similar patterns to those observed in studies in developed countries. The stability over time in public perception of drinking water safety is particularly surprising, given the large cholera outbreak that took place at the start of this period. DA - 2012 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1186/1471-2458-12-556 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - BMC Public Health LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2012 T1 - Public perception of drinking water safety in South Africa 2002-2009: a repeated cross-sectional study TI - Public perception of drinking water safety in South Africa 2002-2009: a repeated cross-sectional study UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14419 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/14419
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-556
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationWright J, Yang H, Rivett U, Gundry S. Public perception of drinking water safety in South Africa 2002-2009: a repeated cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. 2012; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14419.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltden_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Civil Engineeringen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licenseen_ZA
dc.rights.holder2012 Wright et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.en_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0en_ZA
dc.sourceBMC Public Healthen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpublichealth/en_ZA
dc.subject.otherHousehold surveyen_ZA
dc.subject.otherWater safetyen_ZA
dc.subject.otherDrinking wateren_ZA
dc.subject.otherWater qualityen_ZA
dc.subject.otherConsumer perceptionen_ZA
dc.subject.otherSouth Africaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherCholeraen_ZA
dc.titlePublic perception of drinking water safety in South Africa 2002-2009: a repeated cross-sectional studyen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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