Factors influencing perceptions of private water quality in North America: a systematic review

Abraham Munene,David C Hall

doi:10.1186/s13643-019-1013-9

Abstract

BackgroundAn estimated four million and 43 million people in Canada and the USA use private water supplies. Private water supplies are vulnerable to waterborne disease outbreaks. Private water supplies in Canada and the USA are often unregulated and private water management is often a choice left to the owner. Perceptions of water quality become important in influencing the adoption of private water stewardship practices, therefore safeguarding public health.MethodsWe conducted a systematic literature review to understand factors that shape perceptions of water quality among private water users. We searched six computer databases (Web of science, Medline, Scopus, EBSCO, PubMed and Agricola). The search was limited to primary peer-reviewed publications, grey literature and excluded conference proceedings, review articles, and non-peer review articles. We restricted the search to papers published in English and to articles which published data on surveys of private water users within Canada and the USA. The search was also restricted to publications from 1986 to 2017. The literature search generated 36,478 records. Two hundred and four full text were reviewed.ResultsFifty-two articles were included in the final review. Several factors were found to influence perceptions of water quality including organoleptic preferences, chemical and microbiological contaminants, perceived risks, water well infrastructure, past experience with water quality, external information, demographics, in addition to the values, attitudes, and beliefs held by well owners.ConclusionsUnderstanding the factors that shape perceptions of water quality among private water users is an important step in developing private water management policies to increase compliance towards water testing and treatment in Canada and the USA. As many jurisdictions in Canada and the USA do not have mandatory private water testing or treatment guidelines, delineating these factors is an important step in informing future research and guiding policy on the public health of private water systems.

Highlights

An estimated four million and 43 million people in Canada and the USA use private water supplies [1, 2]
Individual provinces or states may have their own regulations on the construction of new wells, how many service connections can be served by a private water supply, and water testing recommendations, with some provinces or states requiring mandatory testing of wells upon the acquisition of new properties [12, 16]
Of the 52 studies identified, 44 exclusively focused on surveys delivered to private water supply owners while ten studies surveyed both residents with private and municipal supplies

Summary

Introduction

An estimated four million and 43 million people in Canada and the USA use private water supplies [1, 2]. Private water supplies in Canada and the USA are often unregulated. Four million and over 13 million people are estimated to rely on unregulated private water wells in Canada and the USA [13, 14]. Both Canada and the USA have national guidelines for the minimum standards of drinking water quality, there may be jurisdictional differences in the contaminants that are assessed [15]. An estimated four million and 43 million people in Canada and the USA use private water supplies. Perceptions of water quality become important in influencing the adoption of private water stewardship practices, safeguarding public health

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion