International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health

Abstract

A government must be able to effectively relay important public health information to its constituents. Informing the public is a difficult task: during Hurricane Rita, only 31% of the population was even aware of a “Boil Water” notice. This study compares the United Kingdom’s public reaction to the same instruction under different circumstances. When municipal water sources become contaminated, water companies and local press both instruct the public on how to treat their water: Do Not Use, Do Not Drink, or Boil Water. This article compares public response to two different Boil Water notices, one after a routine incident in which a rabbit contaminated a treatment plant, and one after a natural disaster, namely, serious flooding in 2007 that resulted in a 7-day Do Not Drink notice before the Boil Water notice. The researchers specifically analyzed consumers’ compliance, use of information sources, recall of advice received, and satisfaction with information. Data were collected by mailing surveys to 1000 households affected by the routine incident. Surveys were similar to those used to gather data after the 2007 floods. The researchers concluded that the routine incident resulted in greater use of water companies as information sources and greater compliance, as well as greater consumer satisfaction with information. After the floods, water companies and local radio were used an equal amount, but radio was found to be more useful. Noncompliance, defined as drinking water that was not boiled, was 5% after the routine incident and 29.3% after the floods. These observations may be explained by the water company’s street campaigns to boil water, which was not possible during flooding. A limitation of the study includes a low response rate for both surveys (below 20%), making conclusions difficult to generalize. Additionally, surveys were administered 8 months after the routine incident and 18 months after the natural disaster incident, possibly decreasing participant recall. (Int J Environ Res Pub Health. 2014;11:11915–11930) G Rundblad, O Knapton, PR Hunter.