San Diego County Unincorporated Area Watersheds: Public Awareness Telephone Survey Report
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San Diego County Unincorporated Area Watersheds: Public Awareness Telephone Survey Report Prepared for County of San Diego Department of Public Works 9325 Hazard Way San Diego, CA 92123 Prepared by Rea & Parker Research P.O. Box 421079 San Diego, CA 92142 858-279-5070 www.rea -parker.com October, 2003 Table of Contents Pages Executive Summary i-iv Introduction and Methodology 1-6 Sample 2 Survey Instrument 3-4 Respondent Charac teristics 4-6 Survey Findings 7-23 Resident Behavior 9-12 Resident Attitudes and Preferences 12-14 Resident Knowledge and Awareness 14-20 Association Between Knowledge and Behavior 20-23 Charts Charts1 -37 Appendix A: Combined Distributio n of Responses A1 -A37 Appendix B: Santa Margarita Distribution of Responses B1 -B32 Appendix C: San Dieguito Distribution of Responses C1 -C30 Appendix D: San Diego River Distribution of Responses D1 -D29 Appendix E: San Diego Bay Distribution of Resp onses E1 -E28 Appendix F: Tijuana Distribution of Responses F1 -F28 Appendix G: Survey Instrument (English) G1 -G10 Appendix H: Survey Instrument (Spanish) H1 -H10 Executive Summary San Diego County contains nine Watershed Urban Runoff Management Plans that were developed by the County, the San Diego Unified Port District, and 18 cities in association with requisite National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System p ermits for discharges of urban runoff. San Diego County has chosen to conduct a scientifically valid telephone random sample survey of watershed residents concerning their awareness of watershed and water pollution issues. The survey was conducted in the unincorporated areas of 5 of the 9 County watersheds: Santa Margarita, San Dieguito, San Diego River, San Diego Bay, and Tijuana with the objective being to develop effective public education programs based upon the information derived from the survey. A total of 1,360 residents of the watersheds were surveyed, generating margins of error for each watershed of +/ -5.9% (with the exception of Tijuana +/ -5.8%) and for the overall sample +/ -2.7% @ 95% confidence. This San Diego County Unincorporated Area Wat ersheds Public Awareness Survey can be divided into 3 essential information components: behavior, attitude and preferences, and knowledge/awareness. That is to say, survey questions either determined some component of the Watershed residents’ behavior per taining to water pollution and urban runoff issues, their attitude about these issues, or their knowledge and awareness about watersheds and water pollution. Demographic information was also obtained for analytical purposes. Resident Behavior The popula tion of these watersheds behaves in a manner that is, for the most part, relatively consistent with public policy pertaining to water runoff and pollution. This is not to say that their behavior mirrors public policy precisely and leaves no room for impro vement. It is only to indicate that, with certain key exceptions, residents do seem to take care to handle their waste and other refuse with responsibility. More specifically, Within these watersheds, animal waste, pesticides, and drained pool/spa wate r are disposed of in a manner that is relatively consistent with public policy. A large proportion of the population of households in the survey area has undertaken efforts to reduce water usage and to purchase products specifically because they are enviro nmentally safe. On the other hand, lesser numbers have reduced or eliminated their use of fertilizer and fewer still have helped clean up a stream, lake or beach. Although there is a substantial amount of task -by -task variability among the watersheds rega rding their behavior, Santa Margarita tends to fare well overall in terms of adhering to what is the preferred behavior according to public policy. i There is significant behavioral collinearity among several subgroups. That is, several subgroups, as would be expected, behave similarly either because they have similar characteristics or because they contain the same individuals. The following subgroups tend to behave a like manner on many of the issues discussed: Spanish language respondents Renters Resi dents of their community for 3 years or less Residents with a High School education or less Younger age groups Also similar in their responses are: Longer term community residents Homeowners Older residents Residents with higher levels of education Each of these two subgroup sets has an issue or two where it performs more in line with public policy than the other; however, the latter subgroups do tend to perform in a somewhat more consistent manner with regard to public policy than the former subgroups. Resident Attitudes and Preferences Although the majority of the survey was devoted to the two major purposes of knowledge/awareness and behavior, there were questions that also sought to solicit resident attitudes, preferences, and opinions about var ious aspects of watershed protection. Residents were widely split on what the most effective means might be to bring about a decrease in the amount of littering that occurs. Overall, making more public trash cans available was most favored, followed cl osely by citing and ticketing littering violators and having more community volunteer clean -up days. Public education is viewed as a less effective way to decrease the amount of litter in the community. Not to the surprise of any resident of San Diego County, a plurality of residents cited the Pacific Ocean as the most important body of water to their community, with San Vicente Reservoir, Lake Jennings, Sweetwater Reservoir, Otay Reservoir, Mission Bay, and El Capitan Reservoir next in order. Resident Kn owledge and Awareness Questions were addressed to survey respondents about their knowledge and awareness of watersheds and water pollution issues. Whereas, the behavior component of the survey demonstrated a recognizable level of consciousness about wate r pollution issues, that ii same sensitivity is less evident when knowledge and awareness of water pollution and watershed issues are tested. Knowledge was especially lacking in the first set of subgroups-- newer, younger, lesser educated, Spanish speaking, and renter residents. The consistency shown by these subgroups throughout the survey represents a significant opportunity for the provision of information on a very specific, targeted basis, with considerable chance for success. It is noteworthy, howev er, that, in the case of knowledge and awareness, Spanish language respondents fared particularly poorly. Regarding knowledge and awareness of watershed issues, these subgroups were joined on the lower knowledge/awareness scale by female residents of the watersheds, who demonstrated significantly lesser degrees of knowledge and awareness than did men. Santa Margarita residents typically did not demonstrate as much knowledge and awareness as did the other watersheds. Regarding particular issues: Awaren ess that water that goes down the storm drains goes directly to rivers, bays, and the ocean was high compared to other issues. Knowledge of what is a watershed was less than the storm drain issue. Awareness of whether respondents live in a watershed is ve ry lacking, as is, obviously, the ability to name the watershed they live in. Television and newspapers are the main media for messages about water pollution. Other media messages reach relatively small sections of the population. “We Live Downstream,” “T hink Blue,” and “You are the Solution to Water Pollution” are the more recognized water pollution slogans, garnering 36% -44% recognition. Residents in the watersheds revealed quite strongly that they were very unaware of hotlines that could be used to rep ort suspicious activities that might affect water quality. Association Between Knowledge and Behavior At the core of any public awareness study is an underlying assumption that knowledge leads to positive action—that the more a resident knows about w ater pollution and watersheds, the more his or her behavior will conform to the standards and policies set to maintain water quality in the region. The assumption makes significant inherent sense; yet merits testing, especially in this survey where Santa Margarita residents scored high on behavior and low on knowledge/awareness. In each of these watersheds, there is a statistically significant relationship between what an individual knows about watersheds and water pollution and how he or she behaves, and this relationship is such that the more that is known, the more correctly he or she behaves with regard to protecting water quality. The degree of correlation is low-to - iii moderate, meaning that there is a relationship, and the relationship is a positive one where knowledge and correct behavior are in lockstep on a low-to -moderate basis. The degree of association differed by watershed, with the strongest relationship between knowledge and action evidenced in Tijuana and Santa Margarita and the lowest as sociation, by far, being in San Diego River. Inasmuch as Tijuana and Santa Margarita frequently did not fare as well as the other watersheds on many of the knowledge and awareness issues, the stronger associations between knowledge and behavior that are evident in those watersheds indicates that public awareness campaigns in those areas can prove to be significantly beneficial. iv Introduction and Methodology San Diego County contains nine Watershed Urban Runoff Management Plans (WURMPs) that were dev eloped by the County, the San Diego Unified Port District, and 18 cities in association