Final Paper                                                                             Shima Hassanzadeh

Abstract

The paper reports the study of 150 people's perception about water crisis in the city of Lubbock. We used questionnaires to gather the information. We brought some specific questions to confirm our hypotheses about the differences in perceptions among males and females, Texans, non-Texans, students and non-students. We tried to get eight people each person, and except for a few of them, most of them were in Texas Tech University.  All 150 completed surveys were analyzed. We used the quantitative method and provided some charts for questions. We interpreted our results from the excel program, and used its charts. We found different results for each hypothesis and question. Our findings indicated that there were some differences among people's attitude in manifold issues.

                                                     Introduction

There is a lot of water on Earth in various forms such as sea, rain, rivers etc. Water is essential for life and we cannot live without it. Water is essential for plant and animal nutrition. Water can be used to produce many products. Based on a report in the National Atlas of the United States (2013), the use of water in the U.S. has changed with time, and the most important factor which affects water sources is human activities. In Lubbock water has been overused, and Lubbock has struggled with its water sources. Reed (2012) said that Lake Meredith, which is one of the main water resources in Lubbock, has been in trouble for several years, and it almost dried. I think people’s feeling about water is one of the important factors which influence the water use policies. If we know people are worried about water in Lubbock, we can ask them to preserve the water, and be more careful about water usage.  I think working on people’s feeling about water is really beneficial. As far as we know, no one has studied perception of water issues among the people of Lubbock. In this research, we want to find out if people know where Lubbock gets its water supply, and if they know what causes Lubbock water to be in danger. We will study how people feel about the Lubbock water problem, and how they see this issue. We will also study if people actively save water, and if people worry about the water supply. In this study, we will look at the differences between male and female, between students and residents, and among internationals, non-Texas Americans, and Texans.

There are many authors who wrote about the water crisis. Here are some people who wrote about the severity of the crisis, and the problems people are faced with.

According to Sauter and Hess (2013), the low rainfall has engendered severe drought in west Texas in the United States, and if it continues west Texas cities face lots of problems such as crop losses, low reservoir levels, and water shortage emergencies. Water is one of the most important things on which all the existence of life depends. Without water all countries face different problems in all aspects of their life.

 Reed (2012) said that because of the Lake Alan Henry, the water crisis in Lubbock can be fixed, which means we will not have a water problem in the near future, while Goldenberg (2013, par.6) said that "towns in west Texas are facing a grim reality: water is so scarce that almost 15 million people need to ration it". People cannot water their gardens, ranches are forced to dump their herd, and cotton farmers have already lost as much as half of their crops. He also said that "water wells are being drilled in big cities, but small towns cannot afford them, and small centers' inhabitants are becoming aware that when water is gone, they will be gone too" (Goldenberg, 2013, par.3).

According to the City of Lubbock (2013, p.ES 3), "Lubbock’s current water supply sources consist of Lake Alan Henry (LAH), Roberts County Well Field (RCWF), and the Bailey County Well Field (BCWF)". Regarding water demand, which is estimated in this article, "Current estimates show that by the year 2014, additional water supplies and or aggressive water conservation is needed in order to maintain water supply during the peak demand of summer months. Without these additional water supplies by 2025, Lubbock will not be capable of supplying the projected water demand even with aggressive conservation" (City of Lubbock, 2013, p.ES 3).

According to Burns (2013), the water shortage problem is not only for those who consumed water a lot, such as farmers, but also for whole cities. He also mentioned that the agricultural areas need water badly and farmers cannot use well water because it tends to be salty.

There are a lot of factors that lead Lubbock to have water problems such as drought, farming, water pollution etc. I think the most important one inducing difficulty is drought. Lubbock has tried to get its citizens to conserve the water. According to Sauter and Hess (2013), Texas has implemented mandatory restrictions.

All those people talked about the water crisis, and some restrictions which exist about water usage. But, the problem is, we should find out if people will follow those restrictions or not. Moreover, Lubbock restricts farmers; but, do we know if people support that or not?  It is really important to know how people feel about water in Lubbock. That is because, if people know about the severity of the problem, and if they feel worried about water, it might lead them to follow the restrictions. In this research, we will study how people feel about Lubbock water, and how much they know about the water crisis. We will also find out if people are worried about Lubbock water, and how they see the issue. In addition, we realize what differences in opinion about Lubbock water are among different people based on their gender, residency status etc. Knowing people's perception about Lubbock water, we might control the right pattern of water consumption. It may also become one of the methods to conserve Lubbock water resources. It may engender modifying consumption patterns to prevent loss of only a few drops of water and prevent other problems in the future.

Hypotheses

I came up with the following hypotheses about the water problem in Lubbock. First, women care more about water than do men. I think that is because women see themselves as more responsible than men to support their family in difficult situations. For example, mothers care more about their children's nutrition than fathers. Second, Lubbock residents care more about water than non-residents, because residents need water for a long period of time, while non-residents may move to another place and use other sources of water. Third, Lubbock residents will be more likely to agree to water restriction than non-residents, because non-residents might live in Lubbock for a short period of time; thus, they do not want to oblige themselves to use less water to save for the future. Indeed, they prefer to use as much as they want during the short period of time, they spend in Lubbock. Fourth, non-students care more about water saving than students, because the students might think that after they graduate they will leave Lubbock to find a job or for many other reasons, whereas nonstudents are more stable in Lubbock and they know they may live in Lubbock for the rest of their life and may not move to other cities or other states.

Method

We were in ESL 5301 Advanced Writing class for Fall 2013 at Texas Tech University. This class included thirteen students with four teachers. We had one professor, and three teaching assistants. We were working on a research project about the water crisis in Lubbock, and what people felt about water in Lubbock. To determine what people felt about water, first we did the research project with questionnaires which encompassed twelve questions (see survey). The questions asked people about their nationality, occupation and gender. Then we brought nine issues which caused the water crisis, and asked people to choose as many issues as they thought were important. After that, we asked people if they knew what fracking was, and if they believed fracking endangered the public water supply, and how much they were knowledgeable about the Lubbock water supply, and if they knew where Lubbock was getting its water for public use. Then, we asked them their knowledge about Lake Meredith. After these questions, we asked if people believed in water restriction for the city of Lubbock, and if Lubbock enforced its water restrictions effectively. Next, we asked them if they believed in the water restriction for farmers, and if they tried to save water. Afterward, we asked them if any of the three groups used too much water, and finally, we asked them to describe their feeling as confident, or worried about Lubbock water. 

We tried to get eight people each person, and we tried to get male and female, student and non-student, Texas and non-Texas residents from Texas Tech University, and some other places in Lubbock. Each of us tried to find five or more Americans in this survey.

Texas Tech has about 33,000 students, and most of them are from Texas. So, it was really easy for us to find Americans, and we expected to find them everywhere in Lubbock, because there are so many students who live in Lubbock. Moreover, Texas Tech has students from all over the world, and it has many international students too. To choose our sample, we could have deliberately gone to some special places to find people, but we were graduate students, and we did not have that much time. Thus, we preferred to find people on campus. Therefore, we asked people on campus and we gathered our information mostly from people who studied or worked at Texas Tech University.

We had some limitations in this research. First, we did not check Lubbock very carefully. We just went around Texas Tech University very well. Due to limitation of funding and time, we just got the people who were really close to us. Second, we asked people if they were knowledgeable about fracking or not, but we did not have any control if they really knew about fracking or they lied to us. We could not test them. Third, we went to the easiest places to gather the information, like our department or our own apartment complex. Therefore, the vast majority of them were Texas Tech University students, and it affected the result. Fourth, we had difficulties to find enough males or enough females in our department. Fifth, we did not have a clear definition for some questions. For instance, sometimes, some people told us they were born in other states, but they lived in Texas, and they did not know if they were Texans or not, and we did not know that as well. Finally, maybe people in Texas Tech University were less likely to be knowledgeable about fracking than other people. So, our sample might not cover the topic. 

Results

Sample

            Overall, we had 151 people who we asked to fill out our questionnaire, and among them, we had one person who refused to fill out the questionnaire, and 150 people who agreed to participate. Most of the participants were from Texas Tech University and some of them were from elsewhere in Lubbock. In this study (n=150), we had 75 men and 75 women. We had 75 from Texas, 38 male and 37 female, 36 U.S (non-Texas), 20 male and 16 female, and 39 international, 17 male and 22 female. Among 110 student population, we had 54 students from Texas, 21 students from the US, and 35 international students. Among 40 non-students, there were 21 persons from Texas, 15 persons from US, and 4 internationals (see chart.2).

Who uses much more water than they should?

     It was assumed that people from Texas would tend to think fracking endangers the public water supply, and oil drillers used more water than they should. I correlated Questions 3 and 11, to see what the relationship was between believing fracking is a danger and that oil drillers should be blamed for using too much water. Overall, we wanted to find out whether Texans were harder on the oil industry than others. Considering that we had 75 Texans and 39 of them checked “oil drillers” in Q. 11, these were the 52% to use. About 30 out of 75 (40%) believed that fracking endangered public water supply, and among those who answered ‘yes’ to Q.3, 24 out of 39 (61.5%) respondents believed that oil drillers used more water than they should. 13 Texans (17.3%) did not believe fracking endangered water supply; among them, 2 out of 39 (about 5.1%) respondents thought oil drillers used too much water. 32 Texans (about 42.6%) did not know whether fracking endangered public water supply. Among these, 13 out of 39 (about 33.3%) thought oil drillers wasted too much water (see chart.22). Based on the result, there was a large number of Texans (40 %) who believed fracking endangered public water supply, and 61% who thought oil drillers used more water than they should.

Then, we wanted to find out whether non-Texans more critical of oil than Texans. We had 36 non Texans, and 17 of them (47.2%) checked oil drillers in Q. 11. 12 out of 36 (33.3%) believed that fracking endangers water supply, and 8 out of 17 (47%) blamed oil drillers. 11 out of 36 (30.5%) did not believe fracking is to blame, and 6 out of 17 (36.2%) thought oil drillers wasted too much water. 13 out of 36 (about 36%) did not know whether fracking endangers public water supply. Among them, 3 out of 17 respondents (17.6%) still thought oil drillers wasted water. Our finding indicated that in comparison with the total number of Texans and non-Texans the percentage of the non-Texans (33.3%) was almost the same as the percentage of Texans (40%) who believed fracking endangered public water supply. In addition, there was less than a half (36.2%) of non-Texans who thought oil drillers used more water than they should, whereas there were 61.5% of Texans who had the same idea.

What the internationals were like compared to others?  Moreover, we had 39 internationals, and 21 of them checked oil drillers in Q 11. 10 out of 39 (25.6%) believed fracking endangered public water supply. 5 out of 21 (23.8%) said oil drillers wasted too much water. 6 out of 39 (15.4%) did not think fracking endangered water supply, 4 out of 21 (19%) said oil drillers used too much water. 23 out of 39 (58%) did not know whether fracking was a danger to water supply, 12 out of 21 (57.1%) still thought oil drillers waste water. Among internationals there were more than half of them who did not know whether fracking endangers water supply or not. They also had almost the same percentage (23.8%) as non-Texans who thought oil drillers wasted too much water (17.6%) (see chart.15). Totally, based on the result it could be concluded that Texans would be more aware of fracking danger, and they were more likely to think that oil drillers used more water than they should.

Knowledge about Fracking

           It was believed that Texans were more knowledgeable about fracking in comparison with non-Texans. The result stated that among 96 people who knew about fracking, 57 (59.37%) were from Texas, and 24 (25%) were from U.S non-Texas, and 15 (15.62%) were internationals. In addition, the result showed that among 54 people who did not know about fracking 18 (33.3%) were from Texas, and 12 (22.2%) were from U.S non-Texas, and 24 (44.4%) were international. Hence, we had 75 (50%) of respondents who were from Texas, and among them 59.37% knew about the fracking, and 33.3% did not know about fracking, while among 39 (26%) U.S non-Texans, we had 25% who knew and 22.2% who did not know about fracking, and among 36 (24%) internationals we had 15.62% who knew, and 44.4% who did not know about fracking (see chart.5)

         The result indicated that in comparison with the total number of  Texans more than half of them, 59.37%, knew more about fracking, whereas only a quarter of  the U.S non-Texans,  25%, knew about the fracking, and among 24 internationals we had 15.62% who knew about fracking. Thus, relatively, Texans were more likely to know about fracking.

Who cared more about water saving, and accept restriction more readily

            We wanted to find out whether women generally said they saved water more than men. Were women in general more confident or less? The result disclosed that there were not significant differences between men and women who felt worried about the water. Totally, it could be concluded that men are more confident than women about the water, and it seems from what we have here men were slightly less confident than the total.

We believed non-students would care more about water saving than students. It was assumed that non-students would believe in more water restriction than students, and females cared more about restriction than males. It was also presumed that there would be more Texans who believed in water restrictions for farmers. The result indicated that among 40 non-students, we had 24 women and 16 men. Among 24 non-student women 16 (66.6%) agreed to water restriction, 3 (12.5%) did not agree, and 5 (12.5%) did not know the answer, and among 16 non-student men 11 (68.7%) agreed to water restriction, 4 (25%) did not agree and 1 (6.2%) did not know the answer(see chart.29). Thus, the result indicated that there were not significant differences between 68% men in comparison to 66 % women who agreed to water restriction. Furthermore, there were 12.5% women in comparison with 25 % men who did not agree to water restriction.

 Also, among 24 non-student females 22 (91.6%) agreed that they saved the water, when they brushed their teeth, and only 2 (8.3%) did not save water, and among 16 non-student males 12 (75%) tried to save water when they brushed their teeth, and 3 (18.75%) did not try to save water, and we had 1 man who missed the answer. It illustrated among women about 91% agreed that they saved the water in comparison with 75% of men who saved the water, and 8.3% of men in comparison with 18.75% of women who did not save the water, when they brushed their teeth (see chart.32).

Furthermore, among 24 non-student females 8 (33.3%) believed in water restrictions for farmers, and 12 (50%) did not believe in that issue and 4 (16.6%) did not know about the answer, and among 16 non-student males 10 (62.5%) believed in restriction for farmers, and 3 (18.75%) did not believe in water restriction for farmer, and 2 (12.5%) did not know the answer and we had one male that missed the answer (see chart.31).

Moreover, among 75 Texans 30 (40%) agreed to water restriction for farmers, while 26 (34.6%) did not agree, and 18 (24%) did not know if they agreed or not and we had 1 person who missed the answer. So, there were 40%, less than half of Texans, who agreed to water restriction for farmers(see chart.31).

Overall, among 75 males and 75 females, we had 65 (86.6%) women who saved water when they brushed their teeth, 18 (24%) who felt confident, 45 (60%) who felt worried, and 2 (2%) who missed the answer, whereas, among men we had 60 (80%) who saved water when they brushed their teeth, and 29 (38.6%) who felt confident, 28 (37.3%) who felt worried, and 3 (4%) who missed the answer (see chart.35). As per the points that I declared, it could be concluded that there were fewer women, 24% in comparison with 36.8 % of men, who felt confident about the water, and more women, about 60% in comparison with fewer men, 37.3%, who felt worried. So, women were more worried than men. In addition, we had almost the same percentage of men 80%, and women 86%, who saved the water, when they brushed their teeth.

Discussion

What we really wanted to do in this study was to find out what people in Lubbock knew about fracking, and what their perceptions about Lubbock water were. Our study was limited in number of people, the place we found those people, the time, and the money we could spend on this survey. Also, we did not have funding from government or any other organs to support us. Indeed, we did not see the water as a crisis, but we looked at it as a situation.

Our analysis about people's perception regarding water of Lubbock indicated some results. Although this analysis was drawn from a small sample of people in Texas Tech University, we identified some amazing results about people's attitude about Lubbock water. We assumed that women care more about water rather than men. Reporting of the number of people who cared more about water exposed that women cared more about water in comparison with men. The most amazing result which we found disclosed that there were a lot of women who tried to save the water when they brushed their teeth, while among the men less than half of them tried not to waste the water when they brushed their teeth.

Furthermore, we found another remarkable result among men and women who were worried about water in Lubbock. Actually, there were no significant differences between the numbers of people who were worried about water in Lubbock, so in this case we cannot claim that women are more concerned about the water than men.  

On the other hand, among non-student men more than half of them agreed with the water restriction for farmers, whilst less than one third of women agreed to water restriction for farmers. The reason might be related to the different attitude among women and men regarding farming.

We supposed that Texans were more knowledgeable about fracking than non-Texans and internationals. Our result confirmed our supposition regarding the issue. As a matter of fact, among the people who were knowledgeable about fracking more than half of them were Texans, and among people who did not know about fracking most of them were internationals.

Reporting regarding the Question which asked whether fracking endangered the public water supply, and whether oil drillers used more than the water they should use, revealed there was no significant difference among non-student males and females in this regard, But the result among males and females from Texas and United States expressed there were remarkable differences between them, and it might be because of the unawareness of non-students about this matter.

Moreover, we supposed that internationals did not care about water, because they wanted to go back to their country and they did not pay attention to water, whereas the result exhibited that there were many internationals who were worried about Lubbock water and tried to save the water; that might be because they came from dry countries and they might know the problems related to water shortage. Reporting of the people who knew about fracking stated that around 60 percent of our participants were from Texas. Since, 57 Texans out of 75 said they knew what fracking was, that meant that 76% of Texans knew what fracking was (and 24% of Texas did not), and we also had 15 Internationals out of 39 that knew what fracking was, which meant 38.4% (whereas about 61% of Internationals did not  know what fracking was). Yet, there was an interesting issue which illustrated there were about 15 percent of international people who were aware of what fracking was, while we did not expect them to know anything about water issues in their short-term accommodation in the city of Lubbock.

We all admitted that our survey was weak, because, it did not cover enough people. Thus, we did not access to the precise people’s perception about water crisis in Lubbock. Moreover, we had only 150 people, and most of them were in campus, while for the correct result we have to access people all around the Lubbock, not just on Texas Tech university. Indeed, we found important information; but, because of the limitation that we had, we could not really be sure about the result. On the other hand, we found decent and valuable information, which help us for our future study regarding water crisis in Lubbock. In the next study, if we have fund from the government, we can go beyond our current survey, and we would have more than 150 sample. In this way, we would study Lubbock carefully. We would study more men and women. We would correct all our limitation. We go beyond everything, and we would find out all the information in a correct way to have a deeper and superior result. 

                                                   References:

Burns, R. (2013, Mar. 12). Texas crop, weather for March 12, 2013. Agrilife. Retrieved from Sep. 17, 2013 from http://today.agrilife.org/2013/03/12/texas-crop-whether-95/

City Of Lubbock, Texas. (2013). Strategic Water Supply Plan for the City of Lubbock, Retrieved on Sep. 17, 2013 from http://www.mylubbock.us/docs/default-source/water-department-file-library/2013- strategic-water-supply-plan.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Goldenberg, S. (2013, Aug. 11). A Texan tragedy: ample oil, no water: Fracking boom sucks away precious water from beneath the ground, leaving cattle dead, farms bone-dry and people thirsty. The Guardian. Retrieved on Aug. 28, 2013 from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/aug/11/texas-tragedy-ample-oil-no-water     

Reed, A. (2012, Feb. 9).  Lubbock water crisis, how did we get here? Retrieved on Sep. 17, 2013 from http://www.kcbd.com/story/16903788/lubbocks-water-crisis-how-did-we-get-here

Sauter, M.B., and Hess, A.E.M. (2013, Aug. 1). Nine cities running out of water. 24/7 Wall Street. Retrieved on Sep. 17, 2013 from http://247wallst.com/Special-report/3013/08/01nine-cities-running-out-of-water

Water use in United States (2013, Jan. 28). National Atlas of the United States. US Government.  Retrieved on Sep. 23, 2013 from http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/water/a_wateruse.html