The Dynamics of Trust in the Shanghai Water Supply Regime

Abstract

Trust in natural resource managers and planners is recognized as a crucial component of the public’s perception of environmental risks, including the risk of consuming water in cities. Although China is famous for its dubious water quality, public perception of the performance of water suppliers in China has scarcely been considered. Yet this is important, not least because improvements in urban water quality are most likely if the public perceives that there is a risk, which is a function of their levels of trust. We, therefore, examine the Shanghai public’s trust in urban water authorities through analysis of the results from a face-to-face questionnaire that 5007 residents responded to. W..