Survey Indicates Lack of Concern, Awareness About Georgia Water

FluksAqua published a statewide survey detailing Georgia residents’ lack of concern or awareness about the state’s aging water infrastructure. The state loses nearly 78,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water every year, and the majority of Georgia respondents are either unaware or unconcerned about the state’s severe water loss and are unwilling to pay to prevent water wastage.

The key findings of the survey include:

• 73.4% of all respondents are not concerned about water loss in Georgia’s drinking water system.
• 44% of all respondents are not willing to spend more money to stop wasting water, while an additional 27.9% of respondents stated they would pay “no more than $50 per year.”
• 62.9% of respondents “don’t know” whether Georgia is spending enough on water infrastructure.
• 12% of respondents selected “preserving water supply” as the most important environmental issue, while a majority of 38.5% of respondents said “they did not know” what the most important issue was.
• Men are less concerned about the state’s deficient water infrastructure than women.
• Suburban respondents are more concerned about local water infrastructure than their rural and urban counterparts.
• 76.9% of high-income earners (earning $100,000+ per year) are uncertain whether Georgia spends enough on maintaining the state’s water infrastructure.

“Unfortunately, there is a lack of public awareness relating to water loss not only in Georgia, but across the country,” said Hubert Colas, president for FluksAqua Americas. “Georgia has a naturally abundant water supply; however, rains that replenish the system do not fall equally across the state and growing population in major centers is taxing the system. The state and water utilities must be proactive in educating its public on the realities of water shortage in their regions. People forget that water is a natural resource and—like all natural resources—will run out if we abuse it. The issue of water leakage can no longer be ignored.” 

Source: FluksAqua