Statistical Analysis of Green Laboratory Practice Survey: Conservation on Non-Distilled Water from Distillation Process

• Main Authors: Reem Abou Assi, Theam Foo Ng, Jing Rui Tang, Mohd Sayuti Hassan, Siok Yee Chan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: Water
• Subjects: exploratory factor analysis; water distillation; non-distilled water; higher education; water conservation; university sustainability
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/15/2018

The water crisis is identified as the most serious global risk for the coming decade. Distilled water is one of the on-demand elements in academic laboratories; however, water scarcity may eventually affect the education sector, necessitating the implementation of new policies. Human behavior, awareness, knowledge, and opinion is having an impact on water management; accordingly, a questionnaire was purposely designed and validated to assess these variables in a Malaysian public university regarding the use of non-distilled water produced by the distillation process. An exploratory factor analysis yielded four factors: “concept of green laboratory and water”, “usage of non-distilled water”, “knowledge about water distillation”, and “behavior related to water conservation”. Using the Mann–Whitney U test to compare laboratory and non-laboratory users’ responses, the variables “Knowledge”, “Behavior”, and “Opinion” revealed statistically significant differences, with laboratory users scoring higher in all four variables. Employing the Kruskal–Wallis H test in an occupation-based comparison among laboratory users, and with an additional variable “Practice”, showed that “Lecturer” has the highest mean rank for “Awareness”, “Behavior”, and “Opinion”, while “Laboratory Assistant” has the highest mean rank for “Knowledge”. This study provides a rationale analysis for future insights to educate faculty members about the reuse of non-distilled water sustainably.