Rebecca T. Parkin, PhD, MPH¹, Lisa J. Ragain, MAT², Catherine Peters, PhD³, Sarah Thorne⁴, and Gordon Butte⁴. (1) Environmental and Occupational Health, The George Washington University Medical Center, 2100 M Street, NW, Suite 203, Washington, DC 20052, 202-994-5482, parkinr@gwu.edu, (2) Env. and Occ. Health, George Washington University, 2300 K St., N.W. #201, Washington, DC 20037, (3) Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Engineering Quad, Princeton, NJ 08544, (4) Decision Partners, LLC., 6210 Lockwood Ridge Road, Sarasota, FL 34243

Anticipation of public health risks related to hazardous agents in drinking water has become increasingly important. Judgments as to which substances or pathogens may be hazardous have traditionally relied on scientific evidence. The literature shows, however, that public perceptions can be crucial factors in driving organizational responses (e.g., policies and communications), even when a substance is not hazardous according to scientific data alone. To be strategic, health departments and water providers need tools to anticipate both scientific and perceptual concerns as early as possible; thereby providing more time to identify key risk scenario components and to create and implement effective responses. In this multi-component AwwaRF-sponsored project, we developed the framework for a computerized model to proactively identify potential substances of concern by extending an existing model and using risk perception literature. We obtained original data to create expert and mental models of consumers’ views of emerging contaminants and related health communications. Finally, we demonstrated how one might develop and use a new diagnostic tool to assist organizations in determining appropriate communication strategies for emerging contaminant scenarios. In this presentation, we will discuss our research results, the tools we developed, and our recommendations for their use and development in practice settings.

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