Urban and rural perceptions of ecological risks to water environments in southern and eastern Nevada

In this multidisciplinary study, we used an Internet-based tool to investigate perception of ecological risks to water environments due to most relevant hazards (urban development, drought, urban water consumption, interbasin water transfer from rural to urban areas, and water-intensive landscaping) in urban and rural Nevada. Rural participants' perception of risk was higher than urban participants for only "interbasin water transfer from rural to urban areas" while for the other four hazards the effect of residence location was not significant. The principal component analysis on fourteen scales identified three factors that we named Ecological Impact, Benefits & Equity due to Hazards, and Controllability of Hazards. Urban people perceived Ecological Impact due to the five hazards to water environments higher than rural people while rural people perceived Benefits & Equity due to Hazards higher than urban people. Participants' ratings in the survey represent their judgments of benefits and equity due to the hazards to water environments in urban Nevada (not in rural Nevada). Therefore, rural people seem to perceive that urban people benefit from the risky human activities of urban development, urban water consumption, interbasin water transfer, and water-intensive landscaping, yet rural people incur the costs. The two groups' risk judgments did not differ significantly in Controllability of Hazards. Participants who perceived higher ecological impact due to risks to water environments had less water-intensive (more desert-friendly) landscape in their gardens. And finally we found that rural laypeople perceived greater need to regulate risks to water environments than urban laypeople, urban experts, and rural experts, and the latter three groups were not significantly different from each other.

► Perception of ecological risks to water environments in urban and rural Nevada.
► Urban and rural people's risk perception differs only for interbasin water transfer.
► Perception of ecological impacts to water environments is higher for urban people.
► Perception of risk to water resources is not associated with urban landscape choices.
► Rural people feel they pay the price due to activities hazardous to water resources.