title: Drinking water quality in a Mexico city university community: perception and preferences.
abstract: A transversal study was conducted at the University City campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, with the goal of estimating the university community preference for drinking either tap water or bottled water and the reasons for their selection. A representative sample of three university community subpopulations (students, workers/administrative staff, and academic personnel) were interviewed with respect to their water consumption habits. The results showed that 75% of the university community drinks only bottled water and that the consumption of tap water is low. The interviewees responded that the main reason for this preference is the organoleptic features of tap water independent of quality. In general, the participants in this study do not trust the quality of the tap water, which could be caused by the facilities that distribute bottled water encouraging a general disinterest in learning about the origin and management of the tap water that is distributed on campus.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Circuito Escolar, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510, Mexico, DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Ana C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Espinosa-García
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Díaz-Ávalos
authors.forename: Fernando J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: González-Villarreal
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Val-Segura
authors.forename: Velvet
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Malvaez-Orozco
authors.forename: Marisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mazari-Hiriart
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D003258:Consumer Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004326:Drinking; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000592:standards*; D005178:Faculty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008800:Mexico; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D060753:Water Quality / Q000592:standards; D014881:Water Supply / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water