Perceptions and actions regarding industrial and domestic wastewater among groups of citizens in Zhuzhou City, China

Abstract

Perceptions and actions of professional regarding wastewater are essential elements in water management of a whole society. In this paper, studying of present policies and comparing perception of three types of people – that was, the public servant, the academician and the citizen on wastwater management in Zhuzhou City. During a time of the field work, social research methods of questionnaire, interview and group meeting were used to collect the data, and then the data would be described and comparative analyzed. In Zhuzhou City, most of the wastewater policies are formulated to manage the industrial waste, but they are too strict to effectively manage industrial areas. According to the views of the public servants, their main attention is on policies and management of industrial businesses. Moreover, they pursue the economic development of the society, but they pay less attention to the citizens’ daily behavior that influences the water environment. In the views of the academicians, local government should formulate polices that are applicable to the local water management according to the actual situation of the society. The layout of Zhuzhou city and the consciousness of the public servants and the citizens are the main problem in wastewater management. Coming to the citizen, their views and daily behaviors about reducing the wastewater come from the reason of economy, but they ignore that their future and well-being need a sound environment as a basis. As a result, the academician has a wider view than the public servants and the citizens. Although the public servants hold enough knowledge to manage water environment, they lack consciousness such that they pay more attention to economic development instead of environmental development. Moreover, the citizens also lack consciousness about the protection and prevention of the environment.