The participation of people in conservation of water resource: A case study of the community of Damnoen Saduak floating market, Damnoen Saduak sub-district, Damnoen Saduak district, Ratchaburi province

Abstract

This research aims to study the participation levels of people in the conservation of water resources and to study differences among individual factors, economic factors, social factors, and trigger factors which affect the participation of people. This research also studies the problems, difficulties and suggestions of people about the conservation of water resources at the Damnoen Saduak floating market community, Damnoen Saduak sub-district, Damnoen Saduak district, Ratchaburi province. The research was conducted with the quantitative method using questioners to collect data from 352 samples who are the heads of their households or they are representatives who can provide information, are aged 20 years or over and live in the area of the Damnoen Saduak floating market. The data is analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science for Windows (SPSS). The Arithmetic Mean, Percentage, Standard Deviation, and One-way ANOVA
The study shows that 85.20% of the sample participate in the conservation of water resource at a low level. The study on participation in each process found that 83% of the sample participate in the planning stage at a low level. 81% of the sample participate in the executing stage at a low level. 71.60 % of the sample participate in the benefit accepting stage at a low level. 77.80% of the sample participate in the evaluation stage at a low level. Differences in individual factors, economic and social factors and trigger factors causes the different participation levels of people in the conservation of water resources. The factors are gender, education background, marital status, number of members in household, career, annual household income, social status or social position in their community, information perception of conservation of water resources, knowledge of conservation of water resources and value of conservation of water resources show a statistical significance of 0.05. Problems, difficulties of infectious waste sort out behaviors are as follows: 1) Most of the people in the community participate in the conservation of water resources at a low level because of uneven information sharing 2) Information perception of people in the community is at a low level at 78.40% due to inappropriate communication tools and channels to share information with people in the community.
The suggestions are as follows: In order to conserve rivers or canal, the department or person in charge of the conservation of water resources should campaign for all community members to take part in keeping the water resources clean and to stop the dropping of waste into the water. The role of the shop owner who owns the shop near the canal area can be defined as including the responsibility for keeping the canal clean and for issuing regulations to all community members. Finally, understanding and cooperation should be built regarding water resources conservation.