Many Ontarians Not Taking Steps to Ensure Healthy Homes with Pure Air and Water
Toronto, Ontario — Many Ontarians are not regularly taking steps to ensure that the water and air quality in their home is in tip-top shape, according to a new Ipsos poll of homeowners aged 27-54 living in Ontario, conducted on behalf of Enercare.
Just one quarter (23%) say they typically have their home’s air ducts cleaned once a year (15%) or more often (7%), while on the other end of the spectrum four in ten (41%) say they’ve never had their air ducts cleaned. Others confess that they typically have their ducts cleaned about once every few years (22%) or haven’t had them cleaned in five years or longer. Interestingly, those in Toronto (36%) are much more likely than Ontarians elsewhere to have their ducts cleaned annually, while 55% of Northern residents say they’ve never had their ducts cleaned.
The fact that so few have their ducts cleaned on a regular basis could be a function of the fact that many are not sure of the utility of doing so. When asked approximately how many pounds of waste are removed from the average home’s air ducts with a duct cleaning, seven in ten (68%) say they have no clue, with women (73%) being more likely than men (63%) to say so. Others guessed 1 pound (5%), 2 pounds (7%), 5 pounds (8%), 8 pounds (7%) or even 12 pounds (4%) of waste. Moreover, nearly three in ten (28%) admit that they don’t know where the air ducts in their home are located, led by residents of Northern Ontario (41%) and women (33%).
Behaviours related to ensuring the quality of their drinking water aren’t much better: only 27% say they’ve ever tested the quality of their tap water (led by 40% of central Ontarians), with 12% saying they’ve done so within the last year, and 16% saying it has been over a year ago. Interestingly, four in ten (36%) say that while they’ve never had it tested they’d do it if they knew how, including 41% of those in the GTA; however, a similar proportion (37%) maintain that they wouldn’t ever have it done because they trust the quality of their tap water, rising to 48% in Eastern Ontario.
While nearly half of Ontarians (48%) don’t do anything to purify their tap water, others take steps to improve the quality of their tap water, including using water-filter pitchers (32%), water purifiers installed directly onto the tap (12%), reverse-osmosis systems (7%), or some other method (8%).
About the Study
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between Dec 7 and 12, 2017, on behalf of Enercare. For this survey, a sample of 805 homeowners aged 27-54 living in Ontario from Ipsos' online panel was interviewed online. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ±4.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all homeowners in Ontario been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.
For more information on this news release, please contact:
Sean Simpson
Ipsos Public Affairs
+1 416 324 2002
[email protected]
About Ipsos
Ipsos is an independent market research company controlled and managed by research professionals. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has grown into a worldwide research group with a strong presence in all key markets. Ipsos ranks third in the global research industry.
With offices in 88 countries, Ipsos delivers insightful expertise across five research specializations: brand, advertising and media, customer loyalty, marketing, public affairs research, and survey management.
Ipsos researchers assess market potential and interpret market trends. They develop and build brands. They help clients build long-term relationships with their customers. They test advertising and study audience responses to various media and they measure public opinion around the globe.
Ipsos has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1999 and generated global revenues of €1,669.5 ($2,218.4 million) in 2014.
