Recycle our Water McNair Gallup Poll

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1 Recycle our Water McNair Gallup Poll

[edit] Recycle our Water McNair Gallup Poll

A McNair Gallup Poll [1] on recycled water was conducted in 2006 by McNair Ingenuity Research [2], using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing on 1,000 randomly selected people throughout Australia. Respondents were asked about possible solutions to water shortage.

Which of the following do you feel is the best solution to the water shortage?

Which others are acceptable to you?

The table below displays the overall results of the poll, as well as the results by state and region.

Which of the following do you feel is the best solution to the water shortage?	Total	Metro	Regional	NSW	VIC	QLD	SA	WA	TAS^*
Use Less Water	9%	9%	9%	7%	10%	6%	6%	14%	13%
Build De-salination plants	18%	18%	17%	14%	22%	18%	23%	20%	14%
Recycle Household Water	18%	16%	21%	21%	15%	21%	8%	14%	16%
Recycle Stormwater	21%	26%	12%	24%	18%	24%	30%	10%	7%
Encourage Home Tanks	19%	16%	25%	21%	16%	20%	24%	17%	31%
Charge more for water	3%	2%	3%	2%	4%	2%	1%	3%	3%
Find alternative reservoirs	12%	12%	12%	10%	14%	10%	8%	23%	17%
None of these are necessary	1%	1%	1%	1%	1%	0%	0%	0%	0%

*Caution small sample size

The single most common response as to the best solution for the water shortage was to recycle storm-water^[1] nominated by more than one-in-five people across Australia, and more than a quarter of those living in the five mainland state capital cities. The second best solution was to encourage the installation of water tanks,, while equal proportions of respondents (18% each) nominated de-salination plants and recycling household water.

According to the 2006 poll, there were some variations in opinion between Australians in different states. The poll found that both South Australians and Victorians felt the best solution to the water shortage was the development of de-salination plants. In contrast, people in New South Wales and Queensland considered recycling household to be a good solution to the water shortage. Western Australians believed that finding alternative reservoirs was the best solution to water shortage in Australia.

The McNair Gallup poll also found variations in results among metropolitan and regional centres in Australia. Australians living in regional centres considered recycling household water (21%) and home tanks (25%) to be better solutions to the growing water shortage. By contrast Australians living in Metropolitan centres felt that recycled stormwater (26%) and desalination plants (18%) were better solutions.

Regional centres in Australia were more inclined to consider the installation of rainwater tanks was a good solution to the water shortage (25%). By comparison 16% of people in metropolitan centres believed the installation of rainwater tanks was the best solution to the water shortage.

The poll also asked Australians which of these solutions were acceptable, thereby allowing participants to nominate as many of the alternatives as they wished.

“Which of the following do you feel is the best solution to the water shortage? And which others are acceptable to you?”

The results showed that the vast bulk of Australian adults were accepting of both storm water =stormwater^[2] recycling (95%) and household water recycling (86%), compared to only 69% who said that building de-salination plants was acceptable.

The poll found some differences among people of different age groups. Australians aged 18-39 years believed that encouraging home water tanks was the most acceptable solution to the water shortage. By comparison Australians aged over 40 tended to be more supportive of water recycling. The support for de-salination was strongest amongst 18-39s (75%) and females (72%). By contrast males tended to be less supportive of de-salination (66%).

A strong majority of those polled (87%) also believed they could use less water. With 88% of women considered using less water as an acceptable solution to the water shortage. The comparable figure 85% of males also felt they could use less water.

Males were more likely to believe that increased water costs would reduce water consumption in Australia.