Almost 70 percent of Pacific Northwest residents receive their water from a city water system (Table 1). Individual wells followed by community well systems are the next most common domestic water sources. Less than two percent of the population get their water directly from a river, lake, pond or stream. The demographic factors of community size and state of residence do impact drinking water sources. As would be anticipated the larger the community size of residence the greater the likelihood of obtaining water from a city water system. Conversely, as community size decreased a larger percentage of residents relied on individual wells and/or community well systems. Residents of Oregon and Washington were more likely to get their water from a city water system than people living in Alaska or Idaho. This is probably due to the fact that a higher percentage of Oregon and Washington residents live in urban communities. Table 1. Identified primary water sources by residents of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington in the water issues survey. Source of water Percentage of respondents City water system 69.8 Individual well 19.1 Community well system 8.4 River, lake, stream 1.2 Don't know 1.5 Public responses to potential pollutants in drinking water are similar (Table 2). Less than five percent of survey respondents consider bacteria, nitrates, pesticides, heavy metals or industrial pollutants as a noticeable or significant problem in drinking water supplies. More significant is the observation that a majority of respondents do not consider any of the pollutants listed to be a problem (Table 2). The most important observation shown in Table 2 is that 4 out of 10 respondents do not have enough information about potential pollutants to have an opinion about risk. The PNW Water Survey A 50-question survey was developed by the Pacific Northwest water quality team to document public awareness, aptitudes, attitudes and actions toward water quality in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Demographic data about the survey respondents were also collected. This statistically designed survey was completed by over 50 percent of the 1,800 residents who were solicited for this study in 2002. Several questions in this survey dealt with drinking water quality. The sampling error of this survey question was +/- 3 percent.

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Coordination Project Partners Land Grant Universities Alaska Cooperative Extension Service Contact Fred Sorensen: 907-786-6311 http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/ University Publications: http://www.alaska.edu/uaf/ces/publications/ Idaho University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System Contact Bob Mahler: 208-885-7025 http://www.uidaho.edu/wq/wqhome.html University Publications: http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/Catalog/catalog.html Oregon Oregon State University Extension Service Contact Mike Gamroth: 541-737-3316 http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ University Publications: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ Washington Washington State University WSU Extension Contact Bob Simmons: 360-427-9670 ext. 690 http://wawater.wsu.edu/ University Publications: http://pubs.wsu.edu/ Northwest Indian College Contact Charlotte Clausing: 360-392-4319 cclausing@nwic.edu or http://www.nwic.edu/ Water Resource Research Institutes Water and Environmental Research Center (Alaska) http://www.uaf.edu/water/ Idaho Water Resources Research Institute http://www.boise.uidaho.edu/ Institute for Water and Watersheds (Oregon) http://water.oregonstate.edu/ State of Washington Water Research Center http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/ Environmental Protection Agency EPA, Region 10 The Pacific Northwest http://www.epa.gov/r10earth/ Office of Research and Development, Corvallis Laboratory http://www.epa.gov/wed/ For more information contact Jan Seago at 206-553-0038 or seago.jan@epa.gov
	Demographic factors did not impact responses to bacteria, nitrates, pesticides, heavy metals, and industrial pollutants. However, almost 24 percent of respondents felt that minerals (i.e., calcium, iron) are a noticeable or significant problem in their home water supply. Table 2. Perceptions of drinking water contamination problems in the Pacific Northwest by respondents to the water issues survey. Source No/Minor Problem Noticeable/Significant Don't know Bacteria 59.6 3.5 36.9 Nitrates 52.0 3.9 43.0 Pesticides 54.9 3.4 41.7 Heavy metals 54.6 3.9 41.5 Industrial pollutants 56.4 4.2 39.5 Minerals 43.5 23.2 33.2 Ninety-one percent of survey respondents feel that their home water source is safe to drink (Table 3). The demographic factors of state of residence, community size, age, education, and occupation do not impact answers about the safety of drinking water. However, gender and length of residence in the Pacific Northwest do affect answers (Table 3). Females are less likely than males (88 vs. 94 percent) to consider home drinking water safe. Also, people that have resided in the Pacific Northwest for a minimum of 10 years are more likely to consider home drinking water safe than people who have lived in the region less than 10 years. Table 3. Responses to the survey question: "Do you feel that your home drinking water is safe to drink?" Parameter ------------ Response ------------ YESNO ---- percentage of respondents ---- Overall 919 Demographic: Gender Female Male 88 12 94 6 Demographic: Time in PNW All life > 10 years 5 to 9 years < 5 years 92 8 93 7 84 16 85 15 The answers to the drinking water related survey questions indicated that most residents of the Pacific Northwest are satisfied with the quality of their drinking water. The data also indicate that a significant number of residents need more information about potential drinking water pollutants.
	This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U. S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No 2008-51130-4734.

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HOME | About | Calendar | Contacts | Links | PNW Water Updates | Sitemap NIFA National Water Quality Program This material is based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 2008-51130-04734. all external sites will open in a new browser window page last modified on August 27, 2006