Published in IIPS Mumbai, ENVIS center, Volume 6, No. 1,  April 2009

Introduction

Beliefs are important determinants of people’s day-to-day practices and collective action. Safe drinking water is a precondition of healthy living.  But the concerns and underlying beliefs play a crucial role in their day to day judgment and decision making about the use of water. The water rich landscape of West Bengal is luxuriant and crowded. Most of the population of West Bengal lives in rural areas where people use convenient and easily accessible water resources near their household. Historically, water has been a common property resource and people have been habituated to use water sources without paying any price. As a result, sometimes improper use and misuse of water also take place. In the study regions water is either contaminated or scarce and citizens are hesitant to pay price for safe drinking water. At the outset this study looks at various sources of water at two different locations and explores if there are differences between them. The present paper deals with the findings of the study pertaining to water beliefs or concerns. It covers the issues pertaining to reliability of water beliefs scales. It also explores whether the scales are unidimensional or the various items of the scales can be factored into two or more dimensions. The nature of analysis is comparative in nature.

Water concern  

Environmental beliefs regarding water are measured by a scale developed and used by Victor Corral-Verdugo, Robert B. Bechtel and Blanca Franjio-Sing (2003). The scale contains eight items. Six items address a utilitarian view of water, seeing it as an unlimited resource without restriction for human use. The other two items assess agreement of respondents with a vision of water as a limited resource to conserve.

The present paper tests the reliability of the water scale in Indian rural condition in which people have a drinking water problem. In addition, it examines the correlations of water beliefs with the socio-economic variables. For this purpose the scale was administered with questions on other relevant demographic and socioeconomic characteristics along with water consumption related issues. This study uses the modified water scale. However, emphasis has been given to retain the original structure and meaning of the items. For measuring water concern a five point Likert scale was used. The language of the original scale was English, however, for the convenience of survey the entire scale was translated in local (Bengali) language. To maintain the clarity and consistency of the expressions the schedule the Bengali version was retranslated back by three independent translators into English. This feedback helped to revise the wordings of the Bengali schedule.

Objectives

 The main objective of the present research is to understand the beliefs about water at two different locations: one where people are facing scarcity of water, and another where water is contaminated with arsenic. Moreover, it examines the reliability of water scale and its correlation with socio-demographic variables.

Method

As said above, the main objective of the present research is to capture the water concern of rural people facing the problem of quantity and quality with respect to domestic water consumption.  

For the selection of sample a couple of meetings were conducted with chief engineer and minister in-charge, public health engineering department (PHED) of West Bengal government. Along with this, informal meetings were also arranged with environmental science groups of Jadavpur University and Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. It may be mentioned here that West Bengal is one of the 29 states of India. It has an area of 89,193 sq. km and a population of 80.1 million (Census of India, 2001). Its administrative structure consists of several districts: each district has several development blocks; each block has several gram panchayets (GPs), which are basically a cluster of villages. Overall, in the state there are 19 districts, 341 blocks and 37,910 villages. 

In West Bengal  arsenic contamination is posing the greatest threat to health. This deadly inorganic substance is not visible to the naked eye and it takes two to twelve years for the manifestation of symptoms of arsenic poisoning in human body. The arsenic map of West Bengal shows that 3,417 villages in 111 blocks of 12 districts are affected by arsenic pollution in groundwater resources. Among them Murshidabad and North 24 Parganas are most affected districts in which a large number of blocks have this problem. In Murshidabad 23 blocks are affected and 15 blocks have patients with the symptoms of arsenicosis. In North 24 Parganas district 21 blocks are affected and 16 blocks have arsenic patients. It was decided that, North 24 Parganas should be selected as representative of districts facing the invisible risk of arsenic as it has more blocks with arsenic patients in comparison with Murshidabad. Further, Gaighata block that has the highest number of arsenic affected villages (54 villages) in the district, was selected for the study. The block is located on the Indo-Bangladesh border and has good communication with Bangaon town and Calcutta metropolis. It also has a number of international (Project-well) and national (Arsenic Dushon Protirodh Committee) non-government organizations, working to combat groundwater contamination.  

To identify the area facing scarcity of water a hydro-geological map of West Bengal was consulted. Purulia, Bankura and West Medinipur districts are part of arid zone of West Bengal. Among these three districts, Purulia was selected as it has extensive hard rock area with irregular rainfall leading to scarcity of water in most years. In this district among 14 blocks there are six blocks which fall in hard rock arid zone. Among them Bagmundi block has three different kinds of hydro-geology (upper-tertiary, pre-cambrian, and archaean) and different levels of ground water potential (moderate and limited). This block is practically devoid of ground water for domestic purposes except having a few dug wells (at hilly villages) and a few bore wells. 

For the present research the target sample was fixed at 320 divided equally between the two blocks of the two districts. The survey was first conducted in Gaighata block of North 24 Parganas and then in Bagmundi block of Purulia district. Due to constraints of logistics, in the former a total number of 156 people could be interviewed but in the latter district only 127 respondents could be interviewed. In Purulia the density of the population is low and in the hilly region of Bagmundi block, and the population is widely scattered. Above all, communication and transportation facilities in the villages are very poor. From Table 1, it is evident that the size of population in Purulia habitations is very low. Here the population is dispersed over larger area. Further, most of the people in these habitations have been migrants - seasonal and permanent – who have gone to nearby states for employment. For the same reason, in Bagti and Chikan Bagan sampling fraction is rather low and in the other two habitations, Basudi and Nandaramadi, sampling fraction is higher.

Table 1: The sample

Note: Figures in parenthesis represents the sampling fraction in particular habitation.

Socio-economic profile of the respondents

Regarding the socio-economic profile of the respondents it was found that more than half the respondents are middle aged, between 30-49 years. The age distribution in North 24 Parganas is a little younger than in Purulia. Purulia district has a substantial number of respondents whose age is more than 60 years (17.3 percent). Like age, sex too affects opinions and attitudes. In this study 73.1 percent of the respondents are males but the distribution is not same in the two districts. In North 24 Parganas 58.3 percent respondents are males but in Purulia around ninety two percent of the respondents are males. For the present study caste distribution was made on the basis of four standard categories which are used by the government for official purposes (SC, ST, OBC GEN). The proportion of SC & ST respondents is much higher in North 24 Parganas than in Purulia though the proportion of Scheduled Tribe is much higher in Purulia. Representation of Other Backward Castes is 59.1 percent in Purulia but only 8.1 percent in North 24 Parganas. Thus, the general caste people are only 6.3 percent in Purulia, where as in North 24 Parganas they comprise 51.6 percent of the sample. In Purulia most of the respondents are illiterate. Purulia is not only having scarcity of water but also scarcity of education due to its remoteness and

backwardness. However, only 1.6 percent are having education level graduate or above. In contrast, in North 24 Parganas a overwhelming majority of respondents are literate and more than 13 percent have education level graduate or above. An attempt was made to ascertain approximate income from all sources to add to monthly income. The study reveals that most of the respondents have monthly income less than Rs. 2,000. In Purulia 90 percent respondents have household income less than Rs. 2000. That means the general economic condition of this region is poor and most people are living at subsistence level. Although a substantial number of respondents in North 24 Parganas district have income below Rs. 2000, but 23.1 percent respondents have income between Rs. 2000 to Rs. 4999.

Frequency distributions and item-total correlations of water scale

As mentioned earlier, water belief scale developed by Corral-Verdugo et al. (2003) was administered to examine environmental beliefs regarding water in two selected areas, facing two different types of problems regarding water. The water scale of Corral-Verdugo et al. (2003) contains eight items. Six items express a utilitarian view of water. The items are made in such a way that agreement with an item signifies anti-ecological and disagreement signified pro-ecological beliefs. The other two items express the ecological view of the people. Agreement with them reveals pro-ecological and disagreement anti-ecological beliefs.

Table 2: Frequency distributions and item-total correlations of water scale items

Note:  1. SD = Strongly Disagree, MD = Mildly Disagree, U = Unsure, MA = Mildly

            Agree, SA = Strongly Agree. All the numbers are in percentage.

2. North 24 Parganas is arsenic affected villages of Gaighata block of North 24

Parganas district and Purulia is water scarce villages of Bagmundi block of

Purulia district of West Bengal state of India.

4. Item-total (r_i-t) correlations are computed between the total score of water scale (i.e. 15 items) with each item’s score.

Water utilitarian beliefs 

This category includes six questions. In most cases people from the two different areas responded in a contradictory manner. The first item is focused on the availability of water. In North 24 Parganas there is enough amount of water as such though contaminated and in Purulia there is scarcity of water. In North 24 Parganas, around seventy percent people either mildly or strongly agree that they have enough water in their area. In Purulia where people are facing scarcity around eighty percent respondents think that they lack water resources. This finding strengthens the basic hypothesis that water beliefs are determined by local situation. One more thing came out from this study that in arsenic villages people don’t have the realization that the available water is contaminated and in reality there is a lack of safe drinking water.  

The next item is on the issue of pricing of water. On this issue around sixty percent arsenic villagers believe that government should not impose any minimum price for the sake of safe drinking water. Interestingly in Purulia sixty percent people are undecided and they did not express their positive or negative response in this matter. However, from the in depth interview with the villagers it was came out that people are ready to pay some amount for the availability of water in their nearest locality. One middle aged housewife from Bagmundi block suggested, “If government will provide water in our locality we are ready to pay for that. It is also true that we don’t have much money for the individual or household level connection but in that case I don’t have to fetch water daily from a long way. I can spend more time on household activities and even I can earn money to do some part time work in that time. Fetching water is a daily obligation for us (women).”  

The third item is on power of science and technology which can solve the water problem. In North 24 Parganas more than sixty percent people are unaware/undecided regarding the ability of science to solve water related problem. In Purulia about fifty eight percent respondents believe that science cannot solve the problem of water scarcity. In Nandaramadi village of Purulia, a sixty year villager (Mr Mahato) said, “How can you say that science will solve the problem? If I agree with your statement that science will solve the problem then I can also say that that will not benefit us. We are poor people. Science will not do anything for poor people. If it can do so then even today we will not face this problem of scarcity. Only God can solve this problem. God is above science.” The fourth item in the water scale is “Drinkable water is an unlimited resource”. Around fifty seven percent people in North 24 Parganas agree with this statement, thus they believe that water consumption is not so important issue. On the other hand, in Purulia sixty eight percent people consider that drinking water is a scarce resource. It is not unlimited. As they are facing scarcity they never really feel that drinking water is unlimited. Surprisingly, in the same region fourteen percent people have anti environmental response. They belong to better off families. They have money to solve the water problem. The next item is about power. It states that water scarcity is a lie produced by politician. In this context it may be noted that West Bengal state is a politically vibrant state. From 1977 it is governed by Marxist Communist Party of India (CPIM). In both the region people are very much reluctant to give their opinion on policy matters. The 12 responses reflect this fact. Overall fifty-five to sixty percent respondent are undecided. In North 24 Parganas and Purulia only 7.7 and 1.6 percent villagers respectively admit that the statement is true. With probing and qualitative interviews on this issue it came out that politicians (including panchayat leader and local committee members) manipulate the distribution of resources. They said that some their voters/supporters get the preferential benefit. Yet, they don’t have any idea what is going on outside their locality. That means they don’t have any idea of national and international polities over water.

 The last item on utilitarian views is contains statement that humans have the right to use all the water they want because they are the kings of creation. In North 24 Parganas 64.1 percent people agree with this statement. On the other hand in Purulia only 31.5 percent people agree with the statement. Considering the above, it can be said that arsenic affected villages are less concerned about the problem of safe drinking water because the risk is more invisible and indirect. The scarcity villages are more concerned because the list is visible and 'real'. In water scarce region people are facing the problem of lack of freshwater for drinking. No wonder the people in scarcity villages show more of pro-environmental beliefs than the arsenic villages. 

Water ecological belief

After six items on water utilitarian beliefs last two items are focused on water ecological beliefs. The statement of seventh item on water scale is “Drinkable water will exhaust very soon if we do not save it”. The respondents from Purulia have given an overwhelming response on this issue. Seventy percent people agree with the statement and they believe that water conservation is a very important issue for better and sustainable living. On the contrary, in arsenic affected villages little less than fifty percent respondents do not think so; strongly or mildly, they disagree with the statement. The last item is on the judicious usage of water resources i.e. using it when absolutely necessary. Following the same trend, people from Purulia (seventy four percent) are always in favor of wise use of water but only 27 percent respondents in region 1 agree with this. It can be concluded that arsenic villages are less concerned about the conservation and judicious consumption of water resources than their counterpart. 

Measures of reliability 

In empirical research involving social-psychological scales, reliability of the scale is of utmost importance. It is measured through internal consistency. Internal consistency conveys how consistently individuals respond to different items within a scale. Reliability is, however, not the same thing as validity. The latter concept refers to the correlation of an item, scale, or instrument with a hypothetical one which truly measures what it is supposed to measure.

Table 3: Reliability of the water scale

 From Table 3 it can be observed that overall reliability of the water scale is 0.90, which is significant enough to administer the scale in the present settings. Moreover, in two regions and in both dimensions reliability is higher than 0.70. 

Factor analysis of water scale

Water scale is applied to measure the environmental beliefs related to water and factor analysis is applied to explore the underlying factors of the scale. It may be noted that in the past water scale has not been used so frequently particularly in Indian settings. Interestingly in case of arsenic villages as well as in case of the total sample only one factor emerged with eigenvalue above 1. It explains more than 60 percent variation in the data. This shows that the water scale used here can be considered as a unidimensional scale. However, in case of scarcity villages there are two factors with eigenvalue more than 1.

Water scale also has two different ways of expressing beliefs agreement with which signify water utilitarian and water ecological beliefs. In the study Chronbach’s alpha for the overall scale is found to be than 0.7 in two different regions. So, the water scale may be considered to be reliable for the present study. This study found that the overall sample and the sample from the location of invisible risk (North 24 Parganas) have only one factor with eigenvalue above 1. It explains more than 60 percent variation in the data. This shows that the water scale of Corral-Verdugo et al. (2003) is a unidimensional scale.

Table 4: Factor loadings of items - water scale (Arsenic villages, N=156)

Table 5: Factor loadings of items - water scale (Scarcity villages, N=127)

Table 6: Factor loadings of items - water scale (All villages, N=283)

However, in case of visible risk location (Purulia) there are two factors with eigenvalue more than 1. Items number 6 is loaded in the second factor with factor loadings .651. But, this item is also strongly loaded in the first factor with factor loadings .554. This study suggests modification of water scale. The researcher believes that in the present scale more items are necessary to explore the different dimensions of the scale. Not only that, at the time of the formation of the scale, items are to placed in way where one ecological item follows another utilitarian item.

Table 7: Communalities of the water scale items

Note: to measure the communalities the method of extraction is Principal Component Analysis. Values lower than 0.5 are marked bold. 

Table 7 presents the communalities of all eight variables.  In this study communality of item number three. “Science surely will solve the problem of water scarcity” is lower than 0.5 in all three cases (two different regions and overall sample). In case of item number 5 (Water scarcity is a lie produced by politicians) the communality is very low for water scarce villages. In these villages these items do not seem to have a common variance with factors of the environmental concern. 

Comparative study of two regions

In water scale, out of eight items, in seven items significant differences have been found between two regions. In item number 5 only, "Water scarcity is a lie produced by politicians" no significant difference has been found. In both the villages people are reluctant to express their opinion on issues considered to be of political nature are particularly pronounced. Differences in item number 1, 4 and 8. In item 1 and 4 water scarce region people express that there is not much water in their village and in Purulia villagers are satisfied with the quantum of available water. They are sometimes worried about quality but they admit that they have enough quantity of water. In item number 8 differences seem to be large because of the pattern of consumption and conservation behavior. The most important finding of this study is that while arsenic affected villages show lower consciousness than the scarcity villages when it comes to water. Hence it can be concluded that people may be aware of overall environmental problem, in spite of their ignorance regarding local problem which is invisible. The invisible risk of arsenic contamination is not seen by local persons. It has to be observed and interpreted by experts, making lay persons vulnerable to experts’ knowledge construction. Yet, the educated people are more concerned about environment. This explains the paradox why people in arsenic villages are more pro-ecological in general but less pro-ecological in specific terms of water contamination.

Table 8: Comparison of water beliefs in two regions

Note: (**) Significant at 1percent level of significance (2-tailed test)

Figure 2: Comparison of mean value of water scale items

 Correlation of water scale with socio-demographic variables

The main idea is to explore whether there is significant relationship between socio-demographic variables and water beliefs and to explore the underlying reasons behind it. Water scale has a score which is a little below 3 (2.94) implying that people are not so conscious about water resources. Also in North 24 Parganas (arsenic villages) people have relatively a low score (2.49) than in Purulia (2.94) (scarcity villages). The difference is statistically significant.

Table 9: Correlations of water scale with socio-demographic variables

Note:    (**) Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

             (*)  Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 

With respect to regional differences the correlation is statistical significant suggesting that North 24 Parganas’s people are less concerned for the water in comparison with Purulia. With respect to gender, it has been found that women are more pro-environmental friendly than their male counterparts. The study has found that age, education, caste and income do not have any significant relationship with water concerns of the people.

Conclusion

The main conclusion of the study is that water scale can be a good tool to measure water concerns and beliefs.. The most interesting finding of the study is that in arsenic affected region people are less concerned about water. This is because water is available but the quality of water can not be visible with naked eye. On the other hand, in Purulia, where people are facing water scarcity, people are more conscious and concerned about water. It is also important to note that women are more concerned regarding judicious water uses.