Community perspectives on sustainable urban water security

Abstract

ABSTRACT Delivering urban water security requires community engagement and participation. But, there are varying levels of interest in water-related issues within a population, the use of technical language can complicate effective communications, and achieving consensus between stakeholder groups can be difficult. This research used a survey of adults from Australia (n = 140) to show that community members can be very willing to engage in urban water security and especially desire active involvement in establishing objectives. However, they clearly demonstrate preferences for how they want to be involved and on which issues. Participants reported that they could understand complex ‘level-of-service’ objectives for water security, and urban water security priorities include water quality, reliability, accessibility and sustainable quantity of supply across both short and long timeframes. The findings support the call for public participation in sustainable urban water security management, and provide rich insights for water providers in urban locations across the globe.