Gómez Román, CristinaLima, LuisaVila Tojo, SergioCorrea Chica, Jully AndreaLema Rodicio, Juan ManuelSabucedo Cameselle, José Manuel2020-12-162020-12-162020Gómez-Román, C.; Lima, L.; Vila-Tojo, S.; Correa-Chica, A.; Lema, J.; Sabucedo, J.-M. “Who Cares?”: The Acceptance of Decentralized Wastewater Systems in Regions without Water Problems. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 9060http://hdl.handle.net/10347/24018There is a growing interest in decentralized wastewater treatment systems, especially in regions with water scarcity problems or water management issues. This study aims to determine whether the perceived advantages and disadvantages (leading to acceptance) of decentralized wastewater plants in such regions are the same in regions where the population is not aware of these water issues. Firstly, this study systematically reviews previous findings on public perceptions of the acceptance of decentralized wastewater treatment systems. Then, the study details the results of a focus group study to determine whether the elements identified in the literature are also relevant in a region where people are unaware of water problems. The results show that a lack of awareness of water issues seems to be a critical factor influencing acceptance. Reframing the usefulness of these systems by focusing on other aspects, such as environmental sustainability, is keyeng© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Decentralized plantsSystematic reviewFocus groupPublic acceptancejournal article10.3390/ijerph172390601660-4601open access