Analyzing Public Cognition and Attitudes toward Water Infrastructure in Taiwan

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study is to understand public cognition and attitudes toward water infrastructure in Taiwan through survey responses and to further explore the relationship between the two. Results show that among the cognition variables, the percentage of correct answers given by the participants for the factor related to water infrastructure and it can impact the environment and society was the highest. As for the attitude variables, such as the exploitation of water sources and the construction of reservoirs, while the majority of the public stated that the environmental impact should be considered first, they do not agree with the government collecting additional fees from the public for the maintenance of facilities such as sewage treatment plants and pipelines. The correlation analysis shows that the correlation coefficient between the cognition and attitude variables is very low, indicating that attitudes cannot be influenced by either high or low conceptual knowledge of water infrastructure.