Water Literacy in Developing Country - A case study for Indonesia

Abstract

Public participation is vital to ensure sustainable water management, and providing education is one of the way to trigger participation. For decades, developed countries try to educate their citizen to be environmentally literate, and for the water sector, water-related knowledge has been introduced to the public by schools, municipalities and water utilities. The condition is harder for developing countries, especially in Indonesia, where government fund is insufficient to support both infrastructure and education development. Education on water- related knowledge is very limited and rarely executed by local government and water utilities, resulting in several water problems caused by people behaviour. Considering the limited information provision for the citizen, this study tried to assess water literacy of Indonesian citizen using on-line survey followed by an in-depth analysis. The survey was targeting at the middle-income individuals. The most important results are: 1) Mean score of water literacy among the women group is lower than men 2) Mean score of all respondents shows low level of water literacy 3) Products which has possibility to pollute the environment based on this study are cooking oil and personal care products which contain micro-plastic. The study results also confirm the need of better water education for household level and recommends several issues to be covered in the education material to prevent further water pollution problem caused by household.

Popular Abstract

Public participation is vital to ensure sustainable water management, and providing education is one of the ways to trigger participation. For decades, developed countries try to educate their citizen to be environmentally literate, and for the water sector, water-related knowledge has been introduced to the public by schools, municipalities and water utilities. The condition is harder
for developing countries, especially in Indonesia, where government fund is insufficient to support both infrastructure and education development.

In Indonesia, education on water- related knowledge is very limited and rarely executed by local government and water utilities, resulting in several water problems caused by people behaviour. Problems such as over-exploitation of groundwater caused by unsustainable consumption, as well as surface water pollution from household wastewater are some examples of water problem that related with behaviour. This condition indicates the need for better water education at the household level because one of the ways to change people's behaviour is by providing a good education. However, before providing education, it is important to understand the current knowledge level among the citizen, thus, one of the objectives of this research is to assess the water literacy, as water literacy is an outcome of water education.

The research uses an on-line survey to assess the water literacy. Questions in the survey consist of 3 categories: awareness, behaviour and water-related knowledge, all of which are related to domestic/household activities. Total participants in this study are 463 persons, comprise of 289 Women (62.4%) and 174 Men (37.6%). Survey result shows that in average, participant shows a low level of literacy, thus, the result shows indications of the need to provide water education at the household level. The result from the online survey also used to understand which household products or activities that have higher chance to pollute the water environment as well as issues or topics that need to be covered in the water education material for the household level. Based on the respondent’s answers, products that have a potential contribution to water pollution are used cooking oil and personal care products containing microbeads. Topics that need to be included are basic knowledge of water facts, the household impact to the degradation of water quality and quantity, proper solid waste management and its influence on water environment, harmful substances in the home and personal care products, water saving tips in the household, and water footprint.

The survey was targeting the middle-income individuals, considering that middle-income individuals have better chance to change their lifestyle, as well as to prevent unsustainable consumption in the future. Method to spread questionnaire through the internet was used to automatically exclude people with lower income, with the assumption that people who connect to the internet and fill the survey will be from the middle-income level which already gains access to water and sanitation facilities. Considering the limitation of assessment using an online survey, result from this study could not represent water literacy of all middle-income individuals in Indonesia, however, it is beneficial as a preliminary study for further research in water literacy and water education, especially in developing countries.

• author: Febriani, Arlisa
• supervisor: Linus Zhang
• organization: Division of Water Resources Engineering
• course: VVRM01 20171
• year: 2017
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Science General
• keywords: water literacy, developing country, water education, water conservation
• publication/series: TVVR17/5004
• report number: 17/5004
• ISSN: 1101-9824
• language: English
• additional info: Examiner: Magnus Persson
• id: 8919360
• date added to LUP: 2017-08-31 08:20:17
• date last changed: 2019-04-01 13:26:59