Gaps in Risk Perceptions Between the United States and Israel: Field Experiments on Various Types of Nontraditional Water

In the first half of 2018, approximately 31% of the continental United States was experiencing some level of drought, conditions that are predicted to spread as climate change hastens shifts in the global water cycle. Despite nontraditional water being a cost-effective, safe, and commonly proposed solution for inadequate water supplies, broad adoption of nontraditional irrigation water at the farm level in the United States and across the world will depend on consumer acceptance of such practices. This study utilized field experiments in the United States and Israel to examine consumer preferences in two countries that are heterogenous in terms of the impacts of drought and experience level. We investigate how consumers respond to different types of nontraditional water and if exposure to scientific information about the benefits and risks of recycled water affects these preferences. The results suggest that Israeli consumers are significantly more accepting than U.S. consumers of produce irrigated with nontraditional water. We also find that the use of nontraditional water diminishes consumer demand by 87% in the United States and 20% in Israel, and that reductions in WTP vary by water type in both countries.Funding support for this research was provided by the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture. The authors want to acknowledge the support of Maddi Valinski, Wendy Hutchinson, Moshe Manshirov, and Irit Orlovich for their assistance administering these field experiments