‘They're telling us it's safe, but how do we know it's safe?’ Different stakeholder perspectives on drinking water safety

Abstract

Current definitions of ‘safe’ drinking water and their inclusion in metrics for monitoring progress towards SDG 6.1 (universal access to safe drinking water) are inadequate as they fail to account for the way safety is understood and enacted in people's day-to-day lives. The aim of this study was to characterise the factors that influence what people understand by ‘safe’ drinking water and to identify opportunities to account for non-scientific/alternative ways of understanding ‘safety’ in the provision of drinking water. We used a case study from Scotland where residents have challenged water professionals over the safety of their drinking water. Semi-structured interviews (n = 30) were conducted with people involved in this case, and each participant was asked to draw ‘safe drinking water’. Although many differences between the stakeholders were identified, the drawing exercise revealed that the residents and water professionals alike believed that consumer satisfaction was vital for believing it was safe. Overall, we found that different knowledge, priorities and epistemologies contributed to different perspectives on drinking water safety. In the future, we propose that more transdisciplinary and citizen-centric ways of working are adopted to improve outcomes in the pursuit of SDG 6.1.