Community Values Survey 2019 Why Survey? Why Now? 1 Collect - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Community Values Survey 2019

Why Survey? Why Now?

Collect information to inform pollution prevention initiatives

1

How can we be effective with communication?

2

Inform knowledge of community information needs and outreach strategies

3

About EMC Research

• Opinion research &

strategic consulting firm (est. 1989)

• Majority women-owned,

national firm with offices in Columbus, Washington D.C., Seattle, Oakland, Portland, and Irving, TX

• 20+ years experience

working with public and private water utilities across the country

Past clients include:

• Alameda County Waste Management

and Recycling Board

• Bay Area Water Conservation

Campaign

• Big Bear Area Regional Wastewater

Agency

• Contra Costa Water District
• Metropolitan Water District of

Southern California

• Santa Clara Valley Water District
• Sonoma Couny water Agency
• St. Paul Regional Water Services

Who is the district?

• 348,575 people
• 278,854 adults over age 18

Race

• 80% white alone
• 7% black/African American
• 6% Asian
• 3% other, 3% multi race

Housing

• 54% homeowner occupied
• 46% renter occupied

District Awareness & Image

• One in three (about 30%) adult residents in MMSD’s

service area that were polled “Have No Opinion of have Never Heard “ of the district.

• Among those who have heard of the District,

majority have a favorable opinion (about 60%).

Job Rating

Household items

• Three out of four people report having CFL

lightbulbs in their home

• 7% report having elemental mercury in their

home

• 17% report still having thermometers

containing mercury in their home

• Half of respondents have expired or unused

meds in their homes.

Water Softeners

$

• Avg. rebate amount that

would encourage softener upgrade:

400

• About 40% of homeowners

reported being willing to consider upgrading their water softener.

• 70% of homeowners

reported being willing to schedule a softener

• ptimization.

Water Softeners

• 1 in 4 homeowners has some

tolerance for hard water. When asked about their softener filling patterns, a quarter said they notice when their softener runs out

• f salt “but aren’t in a hurry

to refill it”, or said “they don’t really notice when it runs out of salt”.

Trusted Messengers

• One in five people thinks of them self as having a lot of impact
• n water quality.
• Overwhelmingly, respondents surveyed cite their municipality

as their go to source for questions about local waters. (53%). Of those, many (>12% specifically mentioned an electronic resource provided by a city, village, or town).

• The second most commonly cited source for questions about

local waters was ,‘the internet’ including general google search

Looking to the Future – Opinion on Use of Recycled Water

“One approach for developing new local water supplies is to purify recycled water. This could involve taking wastewater from the sewer system, treating and purifying it to high standards, and then re-using it. Based on what you’ve heard, would you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly

• ppose use of purified recycled

water in your community?” 33 8 44 13 Support Oppose Somewhat Strongly

Finer Detail Needed: Areas for Further Research

• Non-flushables
• the ‘why’: awareness, attitudes, barriers
• Focus groups are one possible method
• Water softeners optimization & replacement
• How effective are these price points? Are people as willing

to participate as they say they are, or is there still some barrier?

• Pilot project in PS09 area