Attitudes and Knowledge Related to Clean Water: Formative Research Conducted in the Brandywine—Christina Watershed of Southeast Pennsylvania
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2016-05
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Abstract
The Nature Conservancy and University of Delaware, Water Resources Agency sponsored this study of the Pennsylvania portion of the Brandywine-Christina watershed to understand how the public thinks about water quality, and to help inform public outreach in support of a proposed new fund for water restoration in the watershed. Tentatively called the “Healthy Water Fund,” this mechanism would gather resources to enable water restoration. This study sought to understand the baseline level of support for such a proposal, as well as specific priorities that the public would have for water restoration, and the language and imperatives that would resonate with them in describing it.
This work was conducted in two phases:
1. A representative population survey was conducted by telephone among 300 randomly-selected residents of the watershed in May 2016.
2. Two focus groups, one each conducted among suburban residents and agricultural producers in the watershed, were held on the evening of May 12, 2016.