{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,27]],"date-time":"2026-04-27T12:03:42Z","timestamp":1777291422115,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,19]],"date-time":"2024-06-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1718755200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["UIDB\/00308\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/00308\/2020"]}]},{"name":"Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["UIDB\/05183\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/05183\/2020"]}]},{"name":"Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["LA\/P\/0121\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LA\/P\/0121\/2020"]}]},{"name":"Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["UDIB\/04292\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UDIB\/04292\/2020"]}]},{"name":"Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["LA\/P\/0069\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LA\/P\/0069\/2020"]}]},{"name":"Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["UID\/05488\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UID\/05488\/2020"]}]},{"name":"Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["UIDB\/04625\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/04625\/2020"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sustainability"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a key role in fostering sustainability, since students will be future active society members. By providing them with the knowledge, skills, and mindset needed to address environmental challenges, they can contribute to increasing sustainability in a long-term approach. With the effects of climate change strongly affecting water availability across the planet, it is increasingly relevant to understand whether higher education students are aware of this situation, in order to develop adequate measures to promote sustainable behaviors regarding water use. This study aimed to assess students\u2019 perceptions regarding water efficiency through a questionnaire submitted in seven HEIs in Portugal. Students acknowledged the importance of water, with older students, women and science students demonstrating a greater awareness. Despite this, 27% of students do not know what the average water consumption in Portugal is, and only 18% accurately reported the consumption range in Portugal. There is also a lack of knowledge (&gt;50% students) regarding whether common water efficiency measures are applied in their HEI. The main information sources identified by the students were \u201csocial communication\u201d and \u201cinternet\/social media\u201d, revealing that water efficiency knowledge transfer in high education can be improved.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/su16125217","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,19]],"date-time":"2024-06-19T11:47:17Z","timestamp":1718797637000},"page":"5217","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Higher Education Institutions\u2019 Students\u2019 Literacy in Sustainable Use of Potable Water"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4343-6798","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana M.","family":"Barreiros","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"UniRE\u2014Unit for Innovation and Research in Engineering, ISEL\u2014Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Instituto Polit\u00e9cnico de Lisboa, 1959-007 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9069-2554","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anabela","family":"Dur\u00e3o","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Beja, Rua Pedro Soares, 7800-295 Beja, Portugal"},{"name":"MARE\u2014Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ARNET\u2014Aquatic Research Network, Associate Laboratory, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1513-4522","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana","family":"Galv\u00e3o","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CERIS\u2014Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, Instituto Superior T\u00e9cnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0553-0361","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cristina","family":"Matos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ECT\u2014Escola de Ci\u00eancias e Tecnologia, Universidade de Tr\u00e1s-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal"},{"name":"CIIMAR\u2014Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leix\u00f5es Avenida General Norton de Matos, S\/N, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8374-3384","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dina","family":"Mateus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Techn&Art\u2014Centre for Technology, Restoration and Art Enhancement, Instituto Polit\u00e9cnico de Tomar, Estrada da Serra, 2300-313 Tomar, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0425-8514","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ivo","family":"Ara\u00fajo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"proMetheus\u2014Unidade de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o em Materiais, Energia e Ambiente para a Sustentabilidade, Instituto Polit\u00e9cnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua da Escola Industrial e Comercial de Nun\u2019Alvares, 4900-347 Viana do Castelo, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Lu\u00eds","family":"Neves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, P.O. Box 4163, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal"},{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, P.O. Box 4163, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal"},{"name":"INESC Coimbra\u2014Institute for Systems Engineering and Computers at Coimbra, 3030-290 Coimbra, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9545-2584","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sandra","family":"Mourato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, P.O. Box 4163, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal"},{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, School of Technology and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, P.O. Box 4163, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal"},{"name":"MED\u2014Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, Universidade de \u00c9vora, Polo da Mitra, 7006-554 \u00c9vora, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"244","DOI":"10.1108\/IJSHE-09-2019-0254","article-title":"Participation of students in the project Valorbio: A case study to accelerate the implementation of sustainability principles in the curriculum","volume":"21","author":"Mateus","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Sustain. High. Educ."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"891","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2015.07.015","article-title":"University contributions to environmental sustainability: Challenges and opportunities from the Lithuanian case","volume":"108","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Clean. 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