Household attitudes toward wastewater recycling in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Domestic water supply is an essential but challenging public service, especially in countries with rapid population growth and limited freshwater resources. Wastewater recycling has now become a sustainable source of domestic water supply worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, the energy-intensive desalination process meets over 60% of municipal water demand, rising by about 6% within the last two decades. The government has set an ambitious target of complete recycling of treated wastewater in major cities by 2040. Based on a questionnaire survey of 625 households, this study investigates household willingness to reuse treated greywater (TG) for non-drinking domestic applications and the factors that influence their attitudes toward wastewater recycling. The findings indicate more acceptability (agree or strongly agree) of reusing TG for laundering (males: 36.9%, females: 31.7%) than bathing (males: 11.6%, females: 12.1%). Chi-Square analyses show that residential location, age, and education significantly influence household attitudes to reuse TG, but gender and nationality do not. There is more prospect of agreeing to reuse TG for laundering than bathing across all ages groups, residential locations, nationalities, and genders. Educational attainment is the only significant predictor of the likelihood of using TG for bathing and laundering with an odds ratio of 1.26 and 1.04, respectively. Age and gender are significant predictors of the odds of reusing TG for laundering only. Behavioral change campaigns are key to scaling up wastewater recycling to reduce reliance on expensive seawater desalination and dwindling freshwater resources.