Water Talks: The Development of a Risk Communication Model

Background:

The amount of water pollutants newly introduced or discovered is expected to increase, and effective communication about these contaminants will be important. Environmental contaminants with vague health concerns and no suggested actions or corrections magnify public perceptions of involuntary risks (Ragian, 2009). The ability for an individual to take action was identified as being one of the most important factors in environmental health literacy, and communication of action (Lindsey et al., unpublished data). This may prove challenging for emerging contaminants, which places high importance on how information and risk about these issues are communicated.

Program background:

The Water Talks Project aims to build a risk communication model that can be used to present information to the public about emerging contaminants found in public water systems. The need for this project comes from a combination of factors. First, there is public distrust in the safety of tap water that stems from historical trauma from water contamination that affected 47,000 residents in southern Tucson. Second, Tucson also has low adult literacy levels.

The Water Talks project will improve communication about emerging water contaminants with the public, and improve public trust in public water systems and environmental health literacy among the Tucson community.

Evaluation Methods and Results:

This project conducted 8 representative community focus groups to determine the community’s thoughts, feelings, and perceptions about the safety of their tap water. These focus groups also document participants’ understanding of the presence of contaminants of emerging concern in drinking water. Two focus groups were conducted per the following four age groups: high school students, 18-29, 30-54, and 55 and older. The focus group found that 74% of participants indicated they were either not confident or only somewhat confident in the safety and quality of their drinking water. In addition, 83% of participants say they primarily drink either bottled water or filter their tap water. Participants also noted that taste, convenience, cost, and safety were there primary reasons for their answers.

Conclusions:

Findings indicated that participants were only somewhat confident and lacked trust in the safety and quality of their tap water. Taste, convenience, and cost were more of a reason than safety for participants to drink bottled water or additionally treat their tap water instead of regular tap water.

These focus groups also showed the need to collect more generalizable data using a widely distributed survey. This will more accurately inform a risk communication and provide more information about participants’ perceptions, existing knowledge and trust of the water quality and safety.

Implications for research and/or practice:

When communicating risk it is important to understand the community’s current perceptions of the issue. We found that participants did not trust the safety or quality of their drinking water, nor did they trust the sources of water quality information. The new risk communication model will enable the team to tailor informational material for specific target populations, based on education, trust, and language spoken for effective material creation and distribution.