Abstract
This study assessed people’s water literacy awareness, attitudes, and behaviors to iden-tify strategies for coping with drought and water scarcity. The data from 653 questionnaires were analyzed by statistical validation and using IBM SPSS 22 and IBM AMOS 26.0. The views of students, housewives, swimming pool owners, schoolteachers, and experts were collected and finally examined by multivariate validation analysis. People have a high level of water literacy and developed sufficient water-saving habits (4.60). Although most people believe that tap water is of good quality, it is difficult to deliver and expensive, and cannot be consumed directly. Even though people are aware of the water shortage crisis, willing to carry water bottles instead of using plastic bottled water, choosing to buy environmentally friendly cleaning products (4.08), performing water conservation behaviors on the go, taking showers within 6–15 min, and taking the initiative to notify the relevant authorities to repair water facilities, the frequency of using bottled water is still high due to work and living habits, consumption ability, and mobility constraints (34.6), and they are less willing to buy products with the “water proficiency label” (4.08) and participate in stream-cleaning activities (3.57). The willingness to participate in water purification activities is low. The public also feels that the government is responsible for solving the current water shortage crisis (3.71). There are significant differences in the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of water literacy among people of different genders, ages, and regions, depending on their work and consumption abilities, quality of life, and convenience (p < 0.05). Increasing water responsibility can enhance environmental management actions, consumer economic actions, and civic actions, while enhancing water perceptions and crisis awareness can further strengthen civic behaviors.
Highlights
Under the influence of global climate change, abnormal temperatures lead to the gradual disappearance of the Antarctic and Arctic ice caps and glaciers [1], rising sea levels, and increasing water temperatures, resulting in abnormal climate, frequent heavy rainfall and droughts [2], irregular rainfall, deranged freshwater regulation, and the gradual depletion of water resources [3], leading to a crisis of human survival.Deforestation leads to increased surface albedo, reduced tropical evapotranspiration, lower water content, and decreased global average rainfall [4]
The analysis found that, in terms of people’s attitude towards water literacy, awareness was highest for the willingness to carry a water bottle instead of plastic bottled water
Significant differences (p < 0.05) were found among different ages in the issues of paying attention to the time spent on bathing, cleaning the water tower at home at least once, bringing their own eco-cups as much as possible, choosing eco-friendly cleaning products, purchasing products with the “water proficiency label”, taking the initiative to report water leakage to the relevant authorities, and picking up trash at the stream or lakeshore, etc
Summary
Under the influence of global climate change, abnormal temperatures lead to the gradual disappearance of the Antarctic and Arctic ice caps and glaciers [1], rising sea levels, and increasing water temperatures, resulting in abnormal climate, frequent heavy rainfall and droughts [2], irregular rainfall, deranged freshwater regulation, and the gradual depletion of water resources [3], leading to a crisis of human survival.Deforestation leads to increased surface albedo, reduced tropical evapotranspiration, lower water content, and decreased global average rainfall [4]. This, together with fuel combustion and emissions for energy production [5], has led to the phenomenon of global climate change. This phenomenon has a great impact on the hydrological system of the world, including Taiwan [6,7]. Climate change will alter the regional climate, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure, which in turn will affect rainfall and lead to drought [4,8]. The effects will lead to land degradation, desertification, gradual loss or death of forests and vegetation [8,9], increased wildfires and pests, and shortage of fresh water and food, all of which threaten human survival [10]. While there are rivers and streams in the east and west of Taiwan, and 21 reservoirs have been built to store
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