Community Values Survey 2019
Why Survey? Why Now?
1 Collect information to inform pollution prevention initiatives
How can we be effective with communication? 2
3 Inform knowledge of community information needs and outreach strategies
About EMC Research • Opinion research & Past clients include: strategic consulting firm • (est. 1989) Alameda County Waste Management and Recycling Board • Majority women-owned, • Bay Area Water Conservation national firm with offices in Campaign • Columbus, Washington Big Bear Area Regional Wastewater Agency D.C., Seattle, Oakland, • Contra Costa Water District Portland, and Irving, TX • Metropolitan Water District of • 20+ years experience Southern California • Santa Clara Valley Water District working with public and • Sonoma Couny water Agency private water utilities • St. Paul Regional Water Services across the country
Who is the district? • 348,575 people • 278,854 adults over age 18 Race • 80% white alone • 7% black/African American • 6% Asian • 3% other, 3% multi race Housing • 54% homeowner occupied • 46% renter occupied
District Awareness & Image • One in three (about 30%) adult residents in MMSD’s service area that were polled “Have No Opinion of have Never Heard “ of the district. • Among those who have heard of the District, majority have a favorable opinion (about 60%).
Job Rating
Household items • Three out of four people report having CFL lightbulbs in their home • 7% report having elemental mercury in their home • 17% report still having thermometers containing mercury in their home • Half of respondents have expired or unused meds in their homes.
Water Softeners • About 40% of homeowners Avg. rebate amount that reported being willing to would encourage consider upgrading their softener upgrade: water softener. 400 $ • 70% of homeowners reported being willing to schedule a softener optimization.
Water Softeners • 1 in 4 homeowners has some tolerance for hard water. When asked about their softener filling patterns, a quarter said they notice when their softener runs out of salt “but aren’t in a hurry to refill it”, or said “they don’t really notice when it runs out of salt”.
Trusted Messengers • One in five people thinks of them self as having a lot of impact on water quality. • Overwhelmingly, respondents surveyed cite their municipality as their go to source for questions about local waters. (53%). Of those, many (>12% specifically mentioned an electronic resource provided by a city, village, or town). • The second most commonly cited source for questions about local waters was ,‘the internet’ including general google search
Looking to the Future – Opinion on Use of Recycled Water “One approach for developing new local water supplies is to purify recycled water. This could involve taking wastewater from 44 Somewhat the sewer system, treating and purifying it to high standards, and Strongly then re-using it. Based on what you’ve heard, would you strongly support, somewhat support, 33 13 somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose use of purified recycled 8 water in your community?” Support Oppose
Finer Detail Needed: Areas for Further Research • Non-flushables - the ‘why’: awareness, attitudes, barriers - Focus groups are one possible method • Water softeners optimization & replacement - How effective are these price points? Are people as willing to participate as they say they are, or is there still some barrier? - Pilot project in PS09 area
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