Population Distrust of Drinking Water Safety. Community Outrage Analysis, Prediction and Management

The aim of the work is to evaluate the effectiveness of the risk communication strategies in cases of unsafe drinking water supply in Sardinia, the Italian context with the highest population distrust in drinking water safety. During the period 2010⁻2015, the ordinances published on the institutiona...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2019-03, Vol.16 (6), p.1004
Main Authors: Dettori, Marco, Azara, Antonio, Loria, Erika, Piana, Andrea, Masia, Maria Dolores, Palmieri, Alessandra, Cossu, Andrea, Castiglia, Paolo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cities
Communication
Consumption
Drinking Water
Food safety
Health risk assessment
Health risks
Humans
Information Dissemination
Italy
Ordinances
Perception
Perceptions
Population
Public Health
Public Opinion
Risk analysis
Risk Factors
Safety
Software
Theory
Water quality
Water shortages
Water Supply
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Summary:The aim of the work is to evaluate the effectiveness of the risk communication strategies in cases of unsafe drinking water supply in Sardinia, the Italian context with the highest population distrust in drinking water safety. During the period 2010⁻2015, the ordinances published on the institutional websites were analyzed, and the population risk perception was evaluated by applying, for the first time in public health threats, the "OUTRAGE Prediction & Management" software released by Sandman. Overall, 417 ordinances issued by the Sardinian Municipalities were found. Only 1.5% of the ordinances reported information about parameters, concentrations, and risks to health, whereas 4.8% indicated only the parameters and non-standard levels. By contrast, 53.2% specified only the non-standard parameter, and 40.5% indicated a generic non-drinking motivation. The outrage assessment showed values exceeding the threshold of risk acceptance, attributable to the lack and low clarity of the information reported by the ordinances. The present study allowed us to highlight critical issues in risk communication of the quality of drinking water.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph16061004