Last week, the Value of Water Coalition released the results of a new national poll on public attitudes and concerns about water. The poll found that, in light of the Flint, Michigan water crisis, Americans are deeply concerned with the state of water infrastructure. Some 95 percent of respondents said it was important or very important for public officials to invest in water systems so other communities won’t face what happened in Flint.
Respondents were evenly split (47/47 percent), initially, in their willingness to personally spend more on their water bills for increased investment in water systems. Once poll respondents received additional information about water issues, 60 percent of those polled said they were in favor of paying more to invest in water infrastructure—an increase of 13 percent.