Abstract
Water scarcity affects water availability in Peruvian rural schools without piped systems, yet the perspectives of rural students on school greywater treatment and reuse are mainly unexplored. This study explores students’ perceptions, willingness, and concerns from three rural schools in Pichihua, Socco, and Yanaca (Apurimac Region, Peru) regarding greywater treatment and reuse. Using semi-structured questionnaires answered by 167 secondary students, the study found frequent water shortages (57% weekly) affecting hygiene and sanitation. There was high acceptance for greywater treatment systems (88%), significantly influenced by age and gender (p < 0.05). Students supported reusing treated greywater for handwashing (86%), cleaning (73.2%), garden watering (69%), and toilet flushing (65%). Over half were willing to use treated water for handwashing if it was pathogen-free (51.6%) and high quality (47.7%). Main concerns involved health risks (36%) and water appearance (28%). Recommendations included training on greywater treatment (40%) and regular quality assessments (35%) to mitigate concerns. This study shows that implementing a greywater treatment system is socially feasible for addressing water shortages in rural schools. The findings can help water technology developers create strategies to enhance benefits and reduce risks of reusing treated greywater while supporting policy development for water reuse in rural communities.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2440960 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-24 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Journal | Sustainable Environment |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 30 Dec 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 30 Dec 2024 |
Bibliographical note
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Funder
We thank the Centre for Agroecology, Water, and Resilience at Coventry University for their support through the postgraduate scholarship grant (Project Code 13911-06). We also thank the headteachers of Tupac Amaru School, Albert Einstein School, and Señor de Animas School for their willingness to involve their school communities in this research. Special thanks go to the secondary students who took the time to complete the survey. We are grateful to Mr. Carlos Román Allca (resident) for his invaluable assistance during the survey period in Pichihua, Socco, and Yanaca (Apurímac, Peru). Additionally, we thank Mrs. María Román Allca (resident) for her hospitality in providing accommodation.Keywords
- social acceptance
- sustainable greywater management
- water recovery
- water scarcity
- rural communities
