U of I surveys track evolution of Idaho water resources perceptions since 1988

The typical Idahoan dislikes governmental regulations but values the state’s water supply and would voluntarily take steps to protect and conserve it.

That characterization comes from 35 years of surveys assessing public sentiments about Idaho’s water resources, conducted by Robert Mahler, a professor with University of Idaho’s Department of Soil and Water Systems. His work represents one of the nation’s longest standing and most exhaustive surveys exploring public perceptions about water, and his methods have been copied by officials in 42 other U.S. states and territories.

He launched his survey in 1988 — the same year in which he helped UI Extension establish a water resources program — and conducted it every four or five years through 2023.

“I wanted to track the progress the university made with water education,” Mahler said. “I’ve tried to see how public attitudes have changed, and I’ve tried to use the survey to change or reenforce our direction with outreach and educational activities about water.”

As he prepares to retire from a nearly 46-year career at U of I, Mahler is seeking to raise awareness of his robust dataset so the knowledge won’t be lost.

Throughout the years, he compiled roughly 250,000 answers, which can be organized by metrics such as gender, age, zip code, education and length of time living in Idaho. Prestigious journals are now reviewing papers he authored about the collective survey data for possible publication.

Mahler believes the survey has been instrumental in educating the public, guiding state water policy and helping UI Extension design and prioritize water programming.

“If we know the public is willing to make some changes to protect water, we can use those as best management practices,” Mahler said. “We can teach them in our Extension classes.”

Respondents consistently identified soil and water as the state’s most important natural resources. More than 90% of survey participants considered their drinking water to be safe from 1988-2007. Drinking water perceptions have worsened over time, with at least 82% of Idahoans still believing their drinking water to be safe in 2012-23 surveys. Mahler attributes the dip in confidence to concerns about Idaho’s increasing population coupled with increased marketing and sales of water-filtration products.

The survey found women were slightly more worried about water quality than men. Women were also more inclined to use in-home water filters. Long-time Idaho residents were more apt to describe their water quality as being good than newcomers to the state. Furthermore, southeastern Idaho residents were more confident in their water quality than northern Idaho residents.

Since its inception, the survey shows a dramatic increase in the percentage of Idahoans who would take at least one voluntary action to protect water quality, rising from 26% in 1988 to more than 80% in 2023. Some examples of voluntary actions offered included reduced use of fertilizers and pesticides in yards, properly disposing of household hazardous waste products, composting food waste, frequent servicing of septic tanks and safely disposing of unused pharmaceuticals.

“To me the increase in voluntary actions to improve the quality and quantity of Idaho’s water resources is primarily because of education,” Mahler said of the rise in public willingness to voluntarily protect water. “It’s because of expanding programs.”

Another major change in perception is that Idahoans have become far more concerned about water quantity and mountain snowpack levels. The survey asked participants to rank 15 water issues by order of importance. Snowpack was initially ranked among the lowest-priority issues but consistently appeared as the second or third most important issue in recent surveys.

In contrast, the percentage of respondents who identify water as being important for irrigation has dropped throughout the years, which Mahler attributes to new residents from other states who are less familiar with agriculture and its value to Idaho’s economy.

Surveys from 1988 through 2012 were funded with competitive federal grants available to Extension programs for building better drinking water programs. More recent surveys were conducted using internal UI Extension funding.

Mahler estimates the survey’s margin of error at only 2-3%. For each survey, he mailed questionnaires to 3,000 randomly selected Idahoans spread throughout the state, along with a stamped envelope for them to return responses. He mailed reminders and remailed surveys to those who failed to promptly complete it. His response rate was about 50%, roughly double the typical survey response rate.

Mahler would like Extension to continue surveying the public about water perceptions after his retirement, using updated questions and an online format to save money. He believes continuing the dataset would provide crucial information for state lawmakers.

“Our legislators are interested in anything that improves the quality of our water in the state,” Mahler said. “They’re not interested in regulating things more to do that, but they’re interested in programs that give people the ability to take voluntary actions to improve and protect our water resources.”