Communicating With Customers About Quality

In 1974, Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). That act was a framework for providing greater assurance of drinking-water safety in the United States. The 1996 reauthorization of the Act added a new requirement that will be viewed by any as just another community-right-to-know type of reporting requirement. Viewed from another angle, however, the consumer confidence report required by the 1996 reauthorization offers a unique opportunity to forge a collaborative relationship—where it may not now exist—between environmental health professionals, water utility management and consumers. The requirement also provides an opportunity to develop or refine risk communication skills in what should be a high-trust, low-emotion situation.

The 1996 version of the SDWA requires direct communication with customers about drinking water quality. Final rules were promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in December 1998. The first consumer confidence reports are required within 14 months of the final rules.

Reports have to be distributed by mail. There is an exception, however, for very small systems. In those cases information can be published in the newspaper. A key challenge for utilities is to keep the reports simple but informative and to present them so that the public can understand the messages being communicated. For example, the messages might be that the drinking water supply is safe, that the supply is monitored on a regular basis, that consumers will be notified if contaminant levels exceed standards, and that the utility management is interested in an open and on-going dialogue with customers about the quality of their drinking water.

So where is the opportunity for collaboration? Water utility staff, management and consultants are experts on issues such as water quality, treatment and delivery to customers. State and local environmental health professionals should be experts at communicating health information to the public. Also, the efforts of environmental health professionals to practice prevention are recognized, and those professionals are generally viewed as objective and credible. Furthermore, if a problem arises involving a threat to the health of the community from an unsafe water supply, the citizens are likely to turn to the local environmental health representative for support.

For the local environmental health staff to be responsive to public inquiries or to manage unplanned crises involving drinking water, the staff needs to understand how the plant operates, what monitoring is performed and what the key features of the watershed are, among other things.

Consequently, when faced with the need to explain risk to the public or to interpret the results of analytical testing, the management of a utility could benefit from the assistance of local environmental health officials. Those officials could help interpret results, discuss the results in terms of risk and safety, and provide independent assurance that the utility is performing effective monitoring and that the drinking water is safe. They could also assist in gathering additional information about the health effects of drinking water contaminants and provide that information to the community.

In this age of multiple priorities, when there is more work to do than resources available, it is easiest to respond to crises or public concern on an as-needed basis. Nevertheless, an environmental health specialist can also practice prevention by establishing relationships and testing lines of communication before they are needed. In the case of drinking water safety, utilities and environmental health staff could begin a community education program about the safety of the water supply before consumer confidence reports are required. Issues related to drinking water that are important to the community could be identified and responses provided. Citizens can also learn about their responsibility for protection of community drinking water sources. This process could provide opportunities to enhance communication with the public about drinking water in particular and public health in general.

The 1996 SDWA requirement for reports to consumers on water quality presents an opportunity for the community to become better informed about drinking water safety and, maybe more important, a chance for environmental health professionals to be responsive to a contemporary public health issue in a pro-active manner. Environmental health professionals can be leaders of a collaborative effort involving those responsible for providing a safe drinking water supply to the community, citizens and government. Experience suggests that such an investment will pay significant dividends in credibility, responsiveness and overall support for the valuable work of environmental health specialists in the community. Call your local water plant operator right now while you are thinking of it and take him or her to lunch. Discuss drinking water safety over a glass of water.

Chris Wiant is Executive Director, Tri-County Health Department, in Englewood, CO. His expertise in drinking water safety issues also includes past membership on the EPA National Drinking Water Advisory Council. Dr. Wiant is a member of the Public Health Advisory Board to the Chlorine Chemistry Council®.
Reprinted with permission, Journal of Environmental Health, July – August 1998, Vol. 61, No.1. For more information, see www.awwa.org.

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