Groundwater is a significant source of our fresh water supply in many areas of the Pacific Northwest. In fact, groundwater provides over 90 percent of the drinking water consumed in Idaho. Groundwater is also a significant source of irrigation water in eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and southern Idaho. Over 50 percent of residents of the Pacific Northwest consider groundwater quality to be good or better (Table 1); however, there is some concern that the quality of this resource is slipping. Less than 4 percent of survey respondents rated groundwater quality poor. Almost a quarter of the public surveyed did not have enough information to state an opinion. Table 1. The grading of groundwater quality by residents of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington Groundwater quality grade Percent Good or excellent 26.0 Good and improving 11.9 Good, but deteriorating 18.8 Fair 16.0 Poor, but improving 0.9 Poor 3.0 No opinion 23.4 Males were much more likely than females to rate groundwater quality as good or better (Table 2). Females were less likely to have an opinion about groundwater quality than males. Age of survey respondent had a significant impact on the rating of groundwater quality (Table 3). Older respondents (age 40+) were more likely to rate groundwater quality as good or excellent than younger residents. Younger respondents (<40) were less likely to express an opinion about groundwater quality. 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. Table 2. The influence of gender on grading groundwater quality by residents of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Groundwater quality Female % Male % Good + 30 43 Good - 19 19 Fair 17 15 Poor 5 3 No opinion 29 20

Pacific Northwest Regional Water Quality Coordination Project Partners Land Grant Universities Alaska Cooperative Extension Service Contact Fred Sorensen: 907-786-6311 http://www.uaf.edu/ces/water/ 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
	Table 3. The influence of respondent's age in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington) on grading groundwater quality. Water quality Age in years < 40(%) 40-59(%) > 59(%) Good + 26 40 46 Good - 16 23 15 Fair 23 15 11 Poor 4 4 3 No opinion 31 18 25 Community size also had a significant impact on the rating of groundwater quality (Table 4). Residents from smaller communities (< 7,000) were more likely to rate groundwater quality as good or excellent compared to survey respondents from larger cities (> 25,000). Community size did not impact the percentages of respondents rating groundwater quality as fair or poor. The data also show a trend that people from larger communities are less likely to have an opinion about groundwater quality.
	Table 4. The influence of community size in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington on grading groundwater quality. Water quality Population in 1000's 100+(%) 25-100(%) 7-25(%) 3.5-7(%) < 3.5(%) Good + 28 37 41 51 52 Good - 25 17 21 9 12 Fair 14 17 18 12 16 Poor 4 4 3 5 5 No opinion 29 25 17 23 15 State of residence had an impact on the groundwater quality rating (Table 5). Probably the most important information in Table 5 is that residents of Washington and Oregon were almost three times as likely to have no opinion about groundwater quality than residents of Alaska and Idaho. This indicates that a larger percentage of residents of Idaho and Alaska have probably been exposed to information about groundwater. Residents of Alaska were the most likely to rate groundwater quality as good or excellent. When the two "good" categoreis in Table 5 are added together, almost 70 percent of Alaska and Idaho residents considered groundwater quality good or better. Conversely, only about half of Oregon and Washington residents rated groundwater quality good.
	Table 5. The influence of state of residence (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington) on groundwater quality grades. Groundwater quality State AK(%) ID(%) OR(%) WA(%) Good + 51 40 32 36 Good - 16 29 17 16 Fair 17 15 19 15 Poor 5 5 5 3 No opinion 11 11 27 30 The data from this survey indicate that residents generally consider groundwater quality to be good. However, residents know much less about groundwater than surface water quality. The high rates of no opinion by Washington and Oregon respondents suggests that educational programming about groundwater is needed.
	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.

Download the informational PDF flyer here

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