Water Resource Preservation

Abstract

This study assesses the relationship of personal values to support for water resource preservation in a sample of residents of the state of Washington. The Rokeach value inventory is employed to measure personal values. Two values are hypothesized to be related to support for preservation: "a world of beauty" and "a comfortable life." The relationship of values to support for preservation was hypothesized to be greater among owners of waterfront property and among those who employ water resources for greater numbers of uses. The results are consistent with the hypotheses. The value "a world of beauty" is related to support for preservation among most control conditions. "A comfortable life" is related to support for preservation among waterfront property owners and high-level users of water. Two values not hypothesized also are related to support for preservation: "responsible" among the property owners; and "national security" among the nonowners and the medium-level users of water. Overall, personal values explain substantially greater proportions of the variance in support for preservation among the owners than among the non-owners, and among the high- and medium-level water users than among the low-level water users. The study concludes that personal values are related to support for water resource preservation, and that this reflects consistency in public attitudes and clarity in environmental politics.

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