Safe water more important than tasty water

By Ken Y-N ( January 5, 2012 at 23:40) ? Filed under Lifestyle, Polls

With the recent nuclear accident and scare about caesium in drinking water, many people in Tokyo and other parts of the north have switched to bottled water or other alternatives to the tap. To find out exactly what was going on, iShare took a look at home use drinking water.

Demographics

Over the 8th and 9th of November 2011 1,166 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 60.2% of the sample were male, 9.9% in their twenties, 29.2% in their thirties, 37.1% in their forties, and 23.8% in their fifties.

Our flat came with a built-in reverse osmosis (I presume that?s what it is, anyway!) drinking water filter, which we use only for drinking directly or filling the kettle. We just have a feeling that town water is just not that safe drunk directly, perhaps influenced by our previous flat where there was regularly black flakes coming through the old pipes, and we used a non-osmosis-based plugged into the mains purifier.

Research results

Q1: Are you married and do you have children? (Sample size=1,166)

?	All	Male N=702	Female N=464
Not married, no children	33.6%	37.3%	28.0%
Not married, have children	3.87%	3.7%	3.7%
Married, no children	13.6%	12.7%	15.1%
Married, have children	49.1%	46.3%	53.2%

Just for reference, only one of the 116 in their twenties currently had a child out of wedlock.

Q2: Do you feel reluctant to drink tap water without boiling, using a water filter, etc? (Sample size=1,166)

?	All	Male N=702	Female N=464
Very much so	18.4%	13.0%	26.7%
A little	34.9%	32.3%	38.8%
Not at all	46.7%	54.7%	34.5%

Q3: Which would you rather choose for drinking water at home? (Sample size=1,166)

?	All	Male N=702	Female N=464
Safe water	78.3%	75.1%	83.2%
Tasty water	21.7%	24.9%	16.8%

Q4: Do you take any measures regarding drinkwater at home? E.g. buy mineral water, use a supermarket mineral water dispenser, have a home water cooler, use a reverse osmosis filter, use a water purifier. (Sample size=1,166)

?	All	Male N=702	Female N=464
Yes (to SQs)	51.3%	42.3%	64.9%
No	48.7%	57.7%	35.1%

Surprisingly, about 8 percentage points more of childless married couples took measures versus those with children.

Q4SQ1: What is the main measure you take? (Sample size=598)

?	All	Male N=297	Female N=301
Use a water purifier	46.2%	49.2%	43.2%
Buy mineral water	28.8%	29.3%	28.2%
Use a supermarket mineral water dispenser	12.0%	9.8%	14.3%
Use a reverse osmosis filter	4.8%	5.1%	4.7%
Have a home water cooler	4.3%	4.0%	4.7%
Other	3.8%	2.7%	5.0%

Q4SQ2: Do you think that your main measure you take regarding drinking water results in safer water? (Sample size=598)

?	All	Male N=297	Female N=301
Think so	79.1%	82.5%	75.7%
Don?t think so	20.9%	17.5%	24.3%

Q4SQ3: How do you rate the cost/performance of your main measure you take regarding drinking water? (Sample size=598)

?	All	Male N=297	Female N=301
Excellent	12.2%	9.4%	15.0%
Good	61.7%	63.6%	59.8%
Bad	23.9%	23.9%	23.9%
Terrible	2.2%	3.0%	1.3%

Q4SQ4: What are the demerits of your main measure you take regarding drinking water? (Sample size=598, multiple answer)

?	All	Male N=297	Female N=301
Costs money	57.9%	61.6%	54.2%
Takes up storage space	21.7%	20.9%	22.6%
Maintenance is a burden	17.6%	17.5%	17.6%
Uses electricity	3.7%	3.4%	4.0%
Other	7.9%	6.4%	9.3%
No demerits	20.9%	20.5%	21.3%

Q4SQ5: Do you use your main source of drinking water for cooking? (Sample size=598)

?	All	Male N=297	Female N=301
Yes, for everything (to SQ6)	43.3%	40.7%	45.8%
Yes, for some things (to SQ6)	43.6%	48.1%	39.2%
No, for nothing (to end)	13.0%	11.1%	15.0%

The people who didn?t use alternative water for their cooking were asked why, and the top reason was that they thought boiling would kill any germs, followed closely by using an alternative water source would be too expensive.

Q4SQ6: About how much on average per month do you spend on your current main source of drinking water? (Sample size=520)

?	All	Male N=264	Female N=256
Zero yen	7.9%	4.9%	10.9%
1 to 999 yen	36.0%	33.7%	38.3%
1,000 to 2,999 yen	38.5%	42.8%	34.0%
3,000 to 4,999 yen	11.9%	12.1%	11.7%
5,000 to 6,999 yen	3.3%	4.5%	2.0%
7,000 to 9,999 yen	1.0%	0.4%	1.6%
10,000 to 14,999 yen	0.4%	0.8%	0.0%
15,000 to 19,999 yen	0.2%	0.0%	0.4%
20,000 yen or more	1.0%	0.8%	1.2%

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhatJapanThinks/~3/X2KVleJo5W8/

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