Measuring the predictors of communities' behavioural decisions for potable reuse of wastewater.

This paper follows from a previous one by the authors which described the development of a behavioural model to predict community intended behaviour in relation to proposed wastewater recycling schemes where close personal contact is involved. This paper now outlines the confirmation of the robustness of the model for use as a tool by proponents of such recycling schemes, and to provide details of the model's indicator measures, including the "yuck factor", to allow easy applicability to future developments. It outlines the individual items that are asked in a questionnaire format, and provides evidence of the reliability and validity of the measures. The model was replicated and again proved to have a powerful predictive capability. The paper concludes by suggesting how the model can best be used as a tool in the planning and implementation of wastewater reuse schemes and the next steps in gaining public acceptance, particularly for indirect potable uses.

What drives communities' decisions and behaviours in the reuse of wastewater.

This paper outlines a five year investigation which aimed to develop a measurement to predict community intended behaviour in relation to the reuse of wastewater. It has been apparent that communities support the concept of water reuse as a means of responsible water resources management. However, reactions from people when it comes to actually using the recycled water are frequently quite different, particularly when it involves close personal contact or ingestion of the water. Little has been known of how people make their decisions to accept or reject schemes. Therefore, a research program was designed to systematically identify, measure and test the major factors that govern people's decision-making. A social experiment was designed whereby a large group of random community members participated in tasting and swallowing what they believed to be recycled water from different sources and products grown with recycled waters. This provided an immediate experience for the development of measures of psychological and other factors in decisions to taste and/or swallow. This then formed the basis for whole of city surveys which tested and refined an hypothesised model of intended behaviour, and three case studies over time which sought to replicate the model.

Ecological risks and community perceptions of fairness and justice: a cross-cultural model.

Intergenerational justice is implicit in international commitments to sustainability. If ecological, economic, and social components of sustainability are to be achieved, there is a necessity for intergenerational justice considerations to be included in decision making. The present generation's risk judgments should include consideration of the possible outcomes for their children. But intergenerational issues cannot be considered in isolation from other current risk and fairness concerns. This article reports on a community-based integrative model that describes justice and other attitudes and motivations that determine community and individual proenvironmental behavior in two nations: Germany and Australia. This model can account for a considerable amount of the variance in political compliance as well as various proenvironmental behaviors. Group or individual self-interests have nearly no effects on global protective behavior. It is shown that universal as well as contextual principles, including distributive (within or between generations), procedural, and interactive justice, play a crucial role in fairness judgments. Other principles are also taken into account, such as efficiency, environmental rights, and rights to economic welfare. The results are discussed in relation to the importance of complex community fairness judgments in predicting and evaluating acceptance of political decisions, and for promoting proenvironmental behavior.