Determinant of the intention to preserve water quality in agricultural industry perspective: a case study on farmers along the Tuaran river, Sabah / Audrey Matilda Egan

Water pollution is a severe problem in Malaysia and this has an adverse impact towards the sustainability of water resource which is fundamental to humans. This study determines the impacts of agricultural practices on water quality as well as to review the state of river water quality in Tuaran based on the Water Quality Index (WQISUB) physiochemical and biological parameters. Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) perspective was used to determine the behavioural intention of farmers toward preserving water quality of Tuaran river regarding the influence of attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behaviour. Five stations along the Tuaran river were selected to check water quality parameters which are dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, temperature, nitrate and phosphate. The study also used opinion survey with prepared questionnaires based on TPB with 30 respondents selected among the agriculture farms. Based on the result, Station 5 had the lowest WQI value which is 49.10 while Station 1 had the highest WQI value. However, the overall WQI is 57.79 which shows that Tuaran river is rated as medium condition that falls in Class 3. The correlation of behavioural intention towards WQI is r = 0.600. This shows that behavioural intention of farmers has a positive correlation towards the water quality index of Tuaran river.