A structural equation model of success in drinking water source protection programs

Abstract

The management structures put in place for the protection of drinking water sources are multifaceted and include a range of government agencies, landholders and regulatory agencies. While source protection is widely practiced in the water industry, there is limited research on underlying constructs that support successful outcomes in drinking water source protection (DWSP) programs. This study builds on current research by further investigating the following proposed critical success factors (CSFs) for source protection: CSF1: policy and government agency support of source protection; CSF2: catchment condition information and risk monitoring; CSF3: support of operational field activities; and CSF4: response to water quality threats. This study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to confirm the associations amongst the four CSFs. The results show that policy and government agency support for DWSP has a significant influence over how water service providers (WSPs) plan operational activities for risk management. This emphasizes the importance of the role policy and government agencies have in supporting DWSP. The relationships between the CSFs, which typically fall under the responsibility of WSPs, show that information on catchment condition influences operational activities for risk management, and these mediate the influence over response to water quality threats. The response to threats also showed a strong relationship with the function of monitoring catchment risk. The resulting SEM framework provides new insights into the underlying structures that influence outcomes in catchment management and source protection.