THE OUR WATER - GENESEE COUNTY COMMUNITY WATER QUALITY CONSORTIUM for improving water quality in the Genesee County Watersheds and the Great Lakes A Social Survey For the Genesee County Watersheds 2017 THE SOCIAL SURVEY FOR THE WATERSHEDS OF GENESEE COUNTY AUGUST 2017 DRAFT Prepared for: Our Water - Genesee County Community Water Quality Consortium And Genesee County Drain Commissioner’s Office 4608 Beecher Road Flint, MI 48532 Prepared by: Tetra Tech 401 S. Washington Square, Suite 100 Lansing, MI 48933 Tt Project Number: 200-12735-15002 P:\IER\12735\200-12735-15002\Docs\Reports\Social Survey\Final June 2017\GCDC_SocSurvey - Draft 3_Post Customer Review 2017-08- 04.docx Table of Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................... v Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Rating of Water Quality .................................................................................................................... 5 Your Water Resources ...................................................................................................................... 9 Your Opinions ................................................................................................................................. 13 Water Impairments .......................................................................................................................... 19 Sources of Water Pollutants ............................................................................................................ 23 Consequences of Water Pollutants .................................................................................................. 27 Practices to Improve Water Quality ................................................................................................ 31 Septic Systems ................................................................................................................................ 37 Specific Constraints of Practices ..................................................................................................... 41 Reported Behavior .......................................................................................................................... 49 Making Management Decisions ...................................................................................................... 51 Information Sources ........................................................................................................................ 57 About You ....................................................................................................................................... 63 Lessons Learned and Recommendations ........................................................................................ 69 List of Tables Table 1 - Overall Water Quality Rating ........................................................................................................ 5 Table 2 - Where Rain Goes ........................................................................................................................... 9 Table 3 - Important Activities ..................................................................................................................... 10 Table 4 - Leisure Time on the Water .......................................................................................................... 11 Table 5 - Leisure Time Waterbodies........................................................................................................... 11 Table 6 - Perceived Change in Water Quality ............................................................................................ 11 Table 7 - Your Opinions ............................................................................................................................. 14 Table 8 - Household Hazardous Waste Disposal ........................................................................................ 16 Table 9 - Household Hazardous Waste Compliance with Recommendations ............................................ 16 Table 10 - Attitudinal Indicator Results ...................................................................................................... 17 Table 11 - Perceived Water Impairments ................................................................................................... 20 Table 12 - Perceived Water Pollution Sources ........................................................................................... 24 Table 13 - Consequences of Water Pollutants ............................................................................................ 28 Table 14 - Practices to Improve Water Quality .......................................................................................... 32 Table 15 - Indicator Re-Coding for Types, Sources and Consequences ..................................................... 34 Genesee County Surface Water Management Social Survey Report i Table 16 - Indicator recoding for Practices to Improve Water Quality ...................................................... 34 Table 17 - Awareness Indicators ................................................................................................................. 34 Table 18 - Septic System Ownership .......................................................................................................... 37 Table 19 - Septic System was NOT Working Properly .............................................................................. 38 Table 20 - Rain Garden Familiarity ............................................................................................................ 42 Table 21 - Willingness to Adopt Rain Gardens .......................................................................................... 42 Table 22 - Perceived Barriers to Implementing Rain Gardens ................................................................... 43 Table 23 - Familiarity with Rain Barrels .................................................................................................... 46 Table 24 - Willingness to Adopt Rain Barrels ............................................................................................ 46 Table 25 - Perceived Barriers to Implementing Rain Barrels ..................................................................... 47 Table 26 - Behavioral Coding ..................................................................................................................... 49 Table 27 - BMP Behavior Indicator ............................................................................................................ 49 Table 28 - Appropriate Disposal Method ................................................................................................... 54 Table 29 - Information Sources Level of Trust ........................................................................................... 57 Table 30 - Comparison of Agency Trust between 2006 and 2016.............................................................. 59 Table 31 - Information Format.................................................................................................................... 60 Table 32 - Demographics - Survey Respondent vs Genesee County .......................................................... 67 List of Figures Figure 1 - Overall Water Quality Rating ...................................................................................................... 6 Figure 2 - Averaged Water Quality Rating ................................................................................................... 6 Figure 3 - Important Activities.................................................................................................................... 10 Figure 4 - Perceived Change in Water Quality ........................................................................................... 12 Figure 5 - Perceived Benefits and Responsibilities..................................................................................... 15 Figure 6 - Averaged Benefits and Responsibilities ..................................................................................... 15 Figure 7 – General Water Quality-Related Attitudes .................................................................................. 17 Figure 8 - Perceived Water Impairments .................................................................................................... 20 Figure 9 - Averaged Water Impairments Results ........................................................................................ 21 Figure 10 - Perceived Sources of Water Pollutants .................................................................................... 25 Figure 11 - Averaged Sources of Water Pollutants ..................................................................................... 25 Figure 12 – Perceived Consequences of Water Pollutants .......................................................................... 29 Figure 13 - Average Consequences of Water Pollutants ............................................................................ 29 Figure 14 - Septic System Problems ........................................................................................................... 38 Figure 15 - Perceived Barriers to Implementing Rain Gardens .................................................................