Customer awareness of public notification

Abstract

A two‐stage telephone survey was conducted to question 1400 customers of 28 water systems about their recollections of public notification of water quality standards violations. Overall, an estimated 40.6 percent of the customers remembered some type of notification. However, only 20 percent were willing to spend money to improve water quality, mostly because many were already satisfied with their water.

EVALUATION OF CONSUMER NOTIFICATION UNDER THE SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT1

“…Further, the resuits presented in Table 2 can also be scrutinized for possible relationships between these four outcomes and for assessing the overall worth of the public notification program. Percentages of respondents reached by the message varies from a low of 41 percent (Stegman and Schneider, 1982b) to a high of 99 percent (Lemley et al, 1985). These results are very mixed and indicate, when they fall below 80 percent, that the notification efforts were not as successful as could be reasonably expected.…”

“…In a second study Stegman and Schneider (1982b) conducted phone interviews with 50 respondents in each of 28 communities selected from the 190 chosen for the initial survey to represent the six combinations of size and contaminant type. Billing lists were used to select the 50 respondents from each utility service area.…”

“…Forty-four percent of all respondents were sure they did not receive the notice. Stegman and Schneider (1982b) reported that 41 percent of respondents were aware of a consumer notification in their community. Lemley et at.…”

“…Understanding the Message Bruvold and Gaston (1982) The consumer survey conducted by Stegman and Schneider (1982b) asked respondents two questions related to understanding of notification content. About 39 percent knew that the notice was about a water problem and some 33 percent understood that the problem was a violation of a specific water quality standard.…”

“…In the questionnaire survey directed at customers, Stegman and Schneider (1982b) found that 20 percent of those responding were willing to pay more to improve water quality. The response also revealed that the main reason why 80 percent of those responding were unwilling to pay more was because they were satisfied with the current quality level of the water delivered to them.…”