Environmental awareness and water footprint in engineering university students

The purpose of this research was to analyze the association between environmental awareness and the water footprint in engineering university students. In accordance with this, a basic study was established, with a quantitative approach, with a correlational scope and a non-experimental cross-sectional design. Likewise, 62 university engineering students were taken as a sample through a non-probabilistic sampling for convenience. The instrument for measuring environmental awareness was validated through expert judgment and presented a reliability of 0.74. In the case of the water footprint, the instrument designed by the National Water Authority (ANA), attached to the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation of Peru, was acquired. The results demonstrate a medium level of environmental awareness in the students, with a mean of 31.16 ± 5.49. Only 6.5% of students ranked at a high level of environmental awareness. In the case of the water footprint, a low-medium level was evidenced with an average of 8861.9 ± 8482.6 liters/month. 37% of the students presented moderate or high levels regarding their water footprint, that is, above 10,000 liters/month. The Kendall Chi Square and Tau B statistical tests had significance levels that exceeded the established value (p>0.05). Finally, it was possible to conclude the existence of statistical independence between environmental awareness and the water footprint in engineering university students.