By Maria Saporta
Georgia voters are strong believers in water conservation.
That’s the overwhelming sentiment according to a recent survey by the polling firm — The Schapiro Group — which was released today.
Nearly three our of every four Georgians (73 percent) believe that it is very important for people to take steps to conserve water in their homes while another 25 percent think it is somewhat important to take these actions.
The survey found that support for water conservation efforts was strong in every demographic group in the state — at least two-thirds of the people from each group said it was very important to conserve water at home.
Georgians also said that they are backing up these beliefs with actions. Voters indicated a high degree of compliance with several specific methods to conserve water in their homes.
For example, 87 percent said they only washed laundry or dishes when they had full loads; 84 percent said they turned off the facet while shaving or brushing their teeth; 80 percent said they took short showers of five minutes or less.
Other water conservation measures that they used included: 73 percent said they watered their lawns during the cooler parts of the day or only when necessary; 72 percent said they used water-efficient appliances, 67 percent said they had reduced the amount of water used by their toilets; and 59 percent said they installed a low-flow shower head.
The collecting of rainwater, however, has not found widespread adoption. Only 30 percent said they were collecting rainwater.
“Georgians appear to have taken to heart the need to conserve water,” said Beth Schapiro, president of the research firm and long-time public affairs analyst. “Even if some respondents have given ‘socially acceptable’ answers, they do appear to be taking a range of steps to reduce water use in their lives.”
The findings came from the Georgia Legislative Poll, a scientific telephone survey of 597 registered voters statewide taken from Feb. 6 to 9. The margin of error is 4 percent. And the sample was representative of registered voters throughout the state.
Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other lifeforms. Access to safe drinking water has improved over the last decades in almost every part of the world, but approximately one billion people still lack access to safe water and over 2.5 billion lack access to adequate sanitation.