U.S. Midwestern Residents Perceptions of Water Quality 英文参考文献.docVIP

Water 2011, 3, 217-234; doi:10.3390/w3010217 OPEN ACCESS water ISSN 2073-4441 /journal/water Article U.S. Midwestern Residents Perceptions of Water Quality Zhihua Hu * and Lois Wright Morton Department of Sociology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50010, USA; E-Mail: lwmorton@ * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: zhihuahu@; Tel.: +1-515-294-5154; Fax: +1-515-294-2303. Received: 29 December 2010; in revised form: 6 February 2011 / Accepted: 16 February 2011 / Published: 21 February 2011 Abstract: The plurality of conservation and environmental viewpoints often challenge community leaders and government agency staff as they seek to engage citizens and build partnerships around watershed planning and management to solve complex water quality issues. The U.S. Midwest Heartland region (covering the states of Missouri, Kansa, Iowa, and Nebraska) is dominated by row crop production and animal agriculture, where an understanding of perceptions held by residents of different locations (urban, rural non-farm, and rural farm) towards water quality and the environment can provide a foundation for public deliberation and decision making. A stratified random sample mail survey of 1,042 Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska residents (54% response rate) reveals many areas of agreement among farm, rural non-farm, and those who live in towns on the importance of water issues including the importance and use of water resources; beliefs about water quality and perceptions of impaired water quality causality; beliefs about protecting local waters; and environmental attitudes. With two ordinal logistic models, we also found that respondents with strong environmental attitudes have the least confidence in ground and surface water quality. The findings about differences and areas of agreement among the residents of different sectors can provide a communication bridge among diverge