Drinking Water Advisories Invest Time and Resources to Plan Ahead

Abstract

This article discusses the Drinking Water Advisory Project, which evolved out of the need to help utilities issue effective drinking water advisories. AWWA partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop the project, which consists of protocols and tools to improve advisory effectiveness. The project combines elements of CDC's investigations of waterborne disease outbreaks with AWWA's knowledge of utilities' challenges in issuing public notices, and evolving federal and state regulations. The article discusses criteria for issuing advisories, along with suggestions for preparing for questions posed by customers, methods of communicating with the public, anticipating complications, determining critical “users”, and coordinating with other public notification and outreach activities. Post‐advisory activities such as evaluation, outreach, exercises, and practice are discussed.