Abstract
Trust is generally assumed to be an essential precondition for effective water resource management. However, there is piecemeal evidence about the extent to which trust matters for water management and the conditions under which it is more or less important. Moreover, most evidence comes from research in a small number of liberal-democracies. We seek to advance knowledge of the importance of trust in water resource management through a qualitative study that explains the extent to which trust is a factor in managing urban water supply in Shanghai (China), and the factors that influence this relationship. This is the first study of its kind in China, and one of only a handful that use in depth interviews to explain conditions under which trust is more or less important in water management. We find that there are three (not exclusive) conditions under which trust becomes a seemingly insignificant factor in water resources management: when people do not perceive a risk; when people believe they can manage the risk themselves; and when people feel powerless to influence the systems that administer and regulate the water risk. We conclude that trust is not always an important factor in managing the risks of drinking water, at least in authoritarian regimes such as in China.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Pudong Veolia water company is a Sino-foreign joint venture and affiliated to the Shanghai Investment Development Cooperation which is a state-owned enterprise.
Three public consumptions (San’gongjingfei 三公经费) mean money spent on official overseas visits, vehicle purchasing and maintenance, and hospitality.
References
Bakker L, Dekker K (2012) Social trust in urban neighbourhoods: the effect of relative ethnic group position. Urban Stud 49(10):2031–2047
Bronfman NC, Vázquez EL, Gutiérrez VV, Cifuentes LA (2008) Trust, acceptance and knowledge of technological and environmental hazards in Chile. Journal of Risk Research 11(6):755–773
Cosier M, Shen D (2009) Urban water management in China. Water Resour Dev 25(2):249–268
Das TK, Teng B-S (2004) The risk-based view of trust: a conceptual framework. J Bus Psychol 19(1):85–116
de França Doria M, Pidgeon N, Hunter PR (2009) Perceptions of drinking water quality and risk and its effect on behaviour: a cross-national study. Sci Total Environ 407(21):5455–5464
Diep, F. (2013). 16,000 dead pigs in the Huangpu: can you still drink Shanghai's water? Australian Popular Science. http://www.popsci.com.au/science/16000-dead-pigs-in-the- huangpu-can-you-still-drink-shanghais-water, 379259 (last access 3-1-2018)
Earle TC (2010) Trust in risk management: a model-based review of empirical research. Risk Anal 30(4):541–574
Fielding KS, Gardner J, Leviston Z, Price J (2015) Comparing public perceptions of alternative water sources for potable use: the case of rainwater, stormwater, desalinated water, and recycled water. Water Resour Manag 29(12):4501–4518
Finlayson BL, Barnett J, Wei TY, Webber M, Li MT, Wang MY et al (2013) The drivers of risk to water security in Shanghai. Reg Environ Chang 13(2):329–340
Fragkou MC, McEvoy J (2016) Trust matters: why augmenting water supplies via desalination may not overcome perceptual water scarcity. Desalination 397:1–8
Grabner-Kräuter S, Kaluscha EA (2003) Empirical research in on-line trust: a review and critical assessment. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 58(6):783–812
Hartley TW (2006) Public perception and participation in water reuse. Desalination 187:115–126
Hupcey JE, Penrod J, Morse JM, Mitcham C (2001) An exploration and advancement of the concept of trust. J Adv Nurs 36(2):282–293
Inglehart R (1997) Modernization and postmodernization: cultural, economic, and political change in 43 societies. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Irwin, K. (2009). Prosocial behavior across cultures: the effects of institutional versus generalized trust. 26, 165-198
Jensen O, Chindarkar N (2019) Sustaining reforms in water service delivery: the role of service quality, salience, trust and financial viability. Water Resour Manag 33(3):975–992
Li L (2013) The magnitude and resilience of trust in the center: evidence from interviews with petitioners in Beijing and a local survey in rural China. Modern China 39(1):3–36
Lo AY, Cheung LTO, Lee AK-Y, Xu B (2016) Confidence and trust in public institution natural hazards management: case studies in urban and rural China. Prof Geogr 68(3):475–484
Lora-Wainwright, A. (2017). Resigned activism: living with pollution in rural China. MIT Press
Nunkoo R (2015) Tourism development and trust in local government. Tour Manag 46:623–634
Ormerod KJ, Scott CA (2012) Drinking wastewater: public Trust in Potable Reuse. Sci Technol Hum Values 38:351–373
Pierce GS, Gonzalez S (2017) Mistrust at the tap? Factors contributing to public drinking water (Mis) perception across U.S. households. Water Policy 19(1):1–12. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2016.143
Poortinga W, Pidgeon NF (2005) Trust in risk regulation cause or consequence of the acceptability of GM food? Risk Anal 25:199–209
Porras GL, Stringer LC, Quinn CH (2018) Unravelling stakeholder perceptions to enable adaptive water governance in dryland systems. Water Resour Manag 32(10):3285–3301
Putnam, R. D. (1993). The prosperous community social capital and public life. Am Prospect, 4
Qiu J (2011) Environmental science. China to spend billions cleaning up groundwater. Science 334(6057):745
Ross VL, Fielding KS, Louis WR (2014) Social trust, risk perceptions and public acceptance of recycled water: testing a social-psychological model. J Environ Manag 137C:61–68
Scheidegger R, Staerklé C (2011) Political trust and distrust in Switzerland: a normative analysis. Swiss Political Science Review 17(2):164–187
Siegrist M, Cvetkovich G (2000) Perception of hazards: the role of social trust and knowledge. Risk Anal 20(5):713–719
Siegrist M, Earle TC, Gutscher H (2003) Test of a trust and confidence model in the applied context of electromagnetic field (EMF) risks. Risk Anal 23:705–716
Sjöberg L (2001) Limits of knowledge and the limited importance of trust. Risk Anal 21:189–198
Slovic P (1993) Perceived risk, trust, and democracy. Risk Anal 13(6):675–682
Tao T, Xin K (2014) Public health: a sustainable plan for China's drinking water. Nature 511(7511):527–528
Viklund MJ (2003) Trust and risk perception in western Europe: a cross-national study. Risk Anal 23(4):727–738
Wang Z (2005) Before the emergence of critical citizens: economic development and political trust in China. Int Rev Sociol 15(1):155–171
Wheeler SA, MacDonald DH, Boxall P (2017) Water policy debate in Australia: understanding the tenets of stakeholders’ social trust. Land Use Policy 63(supplement C):246–254
Wu X, Yang DL, Chen L (2017) The politics of quality-of-life issues: food safety and political trust in China. Journal of Contemporary China 26(106):601–615
Zhen, N., Barnett, J., & Webber, M. (2017). Trust and the risk of consuming polluted water in Shanghai, China. Journal of Risk Research, 1-12
Zhen N, Barnett J, Webber M (2018) The dynamics of Trust in the Shanghai Water Supply Regime. Environ Manag 61(2):224–235
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by an Australian research Council Discovery Project DP110103381 The Albert Shimmins Fund is also acknowledged for providing a scholarship to support the writing of this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
None.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhen, N., Barnett, J. & Webber, M. Is Trust Always a Precondition for Effective Water Resource Management?. Water Resour Manage 34, 1423–1436 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-020-02509-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-020-02509-4