Public Reaction to Annual Reports on Drinking Water Quality: Research Project Summary
Date
2003-10
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Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Trenton, N.J. : New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Science, Research and Technology
Abstract
Several survey experiments in New Jersey explored customer reactions to Consumer Confidence Reports (CCRs) on drinking water quality that utilities are required to make available to their customers each year.
CCRs received from utilities are quickly forgotten; on average, reactions are positive, but evaluations of
water quality change little. Qualitative reports (i.e., without the required water quality tables) were rated lower than quantitative CCRs. Adding information about protection of water source quality was welcomed. People reacted no differently to hypothetical CCRs with and without Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) violations.
Customers wanted all required CCR information and more. Reactions to required CCR formats and texts, and plausible alternatives, differed hardly at all. Many people could not identify hypothetical MCL violations
in CCRs, and ranges of detected contaminant levels required in CCR tables were particularly hard to interpret in comparisons to MCLs. Attitudes to water quality seem shaped more by personal experience of tap water quality and of the utility than by CCR content. Improving tap water aesthetics, even beyond compliance with secondary standards, might most improve customers' views of its safety.
Description
Keywords
New Jersey, Water quality, Drinking water
Citation
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