Abstract:

With the progress of rural development and the improvement of farmers’ living standards，there is significant change in the patterns of rural water use in many regions of China.Nevertheless,studies of domestic water use have been focused on urban areas so far.There is a lack of systematic study of rural domestic water use in China.In this study,a random inhouse survey has been conducted in 8 villages located in the Pudong District of Shanghai that is going through rapid urbanization.The survey includes three components:(1) the characteristics of the interviewed farmers such as age,education,water bill,household income;(2) the interviewed farmers’ domestic water use behaviors such as cooking,bathing,and clothes washing; and (3) the interviewed farmer’s attitudes towards water price,water pollution,water conservation and current conservation practice.Based on the survey results,statistical analysis is used to analyze the farmers’ domestic water use behaviors and significant influencing factors.All of the interviewed farmers have connections to tap water at home.The villages can be classified into two categories based on their tap water price: 5 villages with a higher tap water price of around 2.8 RMB per ton and 3 villages with a lower tap water price of around 16 RMB per ton.The interviewed households’ monthly water bills range from 5 to 70 RMB,with an average of 24.5 RMB.About 78% of the households have a water bill of less than 30 RMB.Study results are as follows.(1) The majority of the surveyed farmers consider the current price of tap water is expensive.Their attitudes towards water price are not significantly influenced by the interviewer’s age,education level,and water price itself,but significantly influenced by their household income.(2) The price of tap water has significantly affected the farmers’ choice of water source for washing clothes.Farmers who consider tap water expensive tend to use groundwater for washing clothes.(3) The identified significant variables influencing the amount of rural domestic water use include household size,tap water price,source of water for washing clothes,and the ways of bathing.The developed stepwise multiple regression model could explain 41% of the variance in monthly tap water usage.(4) The majority of the surveyed farmers acknowledge the importance of water conservation.However,they tend to limit water conservation to “reducing the amount of tap water use so as to cut water bills.” Many farmers considered the more use of groundwater as their major way of water conservation.The free availability of groundwater seems to lead to the widespread practice of water waste.The study results have suggested that more work is needed to ensure the safety of rural domestic water use in the study region,which includes (1) educating farmers to enhance their awareness of water pollution control and water resource protection;(2) guiding farmers’ groundwater use and sewage discharge activities to reduce waste and indiscriminate discharge;(3) establishing rural sewage collection and discharge programs and ensuring its proper operation;(4) establishing groundwater protection and management programs to ensure the sustainability of groundwater resources and the protection of groundwater quality