Abstract
The acceptance of newly implemented, safe drinking water options is not guaranteed. In the Khulna and Satkhira districts, Bangladesh, pond water is pathogen-contaminated, while groundwater from shallow tubewells may be arsenic- or saline-contaminated. This study aims to determine why, as well as the extent to which, people are expected to remain attached to using these unsafe water options, compared to the following four safer drinking water options: deep tubewells, pond sand filters, vendor water, and rainwater harvesting. Through 262 surveys, this study explores whether five explanatory factors (risk, attitude, norms, reliability, and habit) pose barriers to switching from unsafe to safe drinking water options or whether they could act as facilitators of such a switch. Users’ attachment to using pond water is generally low (facilitators: risk and attitude. Barrier: norms). Users are more attached to shallow tubewells (no facilitators. Barriers: reliability and habit). The safe alternatives (deep tubewell, rain water harvesting, pond sand filter, and vendor water) score significantly better than pond water and are estimated to have the potential to be adopted by pond water users. Deep tubewell, rain water harvesting, and pond sand filter also score better than shallow tubewells and could also have the potential to replace them. These findings may be used to optimise implementation strategies for safer drinking water alternatives.
Highlights
In many cases around the world, it has been found that the acceptance of safe drinking water options varies and is not necessarily guaranteed [1,2,3]
It can be seen that rather than committing exclusively to one drinking water option, households in Bangladesh often use a portfolio of sources that, in varying ways and to varying extents, satisfy one or more of the several preferences they have with regard to their drinking water [37]
This information is valuable for ex-ante assessments of whether technical solutions will be successful and, for strategies introducing technical solutions that will address the usage of pond or shallow tube wells (STWs) water in the Khulna and Satkhira districts in southwestern Bangladesh, especially because safe alternatives are often unavailable here
Summary
In many cases around the world, it has been found that the acceptance of safe drinking water options varies and is not necessarily guaranteed [1,2,3]. To achieve the widespread adoption of safer, alternative drinking water options, the importance of so-called ‘software activities’ to actively promote a behavioural change among users of drinking water systems has been pointed out [4]. It is contended that when designing a strategy for providing alternative safe drinking water options, it is important to know what keeps people attached to their unsafe drinking water option and what could facilitate a switch from it. Surface water resources are polluted [5,6], meteorological water resources are subject to distinct seasonality [7,8], and shallow groundwater is often contaminated with arsenic [9,10,11,12,13].
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