Water Online the Magazine gives Water & Wastewater Engineers and end-users a venue to find project solutions and source valuable product information. We aim to educate the engineering and operations community on important issues and trends.
Issue link: http://wateronline.epubxp.com/i/303843
Tutorial wateronline.com ■ Water Online The Magazine 22 and post online: information on tap versus bottled water, and fluoridation. To do this, more effort and time may be required to research these topics and then summarize and compile a document in a way that will be easy for consumers to understand. It may be useful to also post links to any articles or research findings for those informed consumers who would further like to research those topics on their own. Endocrine disrupters and chromium-6 have been making headlines as well in recent years. Most state Environmental Protection Agency websites contain a wealth of information accompanied by assessments and testing results, which can be posted directly on the utility's website. Consumers should also be provided with links to the Environmental Protection Agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Department, World Health Organization, and other scientifically based media sources and encouraged to visit them for more information. Get The Word Out Once relevant content is gathered and made available online, it is time to come up with ways to get this information to the consumer. Many cities have their own public relations department. This can be a great resource to get a message out there. For water utilities that are fortunate to have a PR department, arrange for a meeting and collaborate on possible PR methods to educate and increase awareness and benefits of drinking municipal water in the community. Consider creating educational flyers, which can be posted in public places, distributed across various departments within the city for employees, or included in water bills. Meet with operators and lab personnel to let them know of the available online content. Provide them with a website address to the water department page where concerned customers can be directed. For those utilities that already have a "Pay Your Water Bill Online" link, think of ways to place this link strategically so that consumers paying a bill online will see the available content. For example, once a consumer clicks on "Pay Online," a catchy phrase with a link such as, "Find out more about your tap water," could entice them to click. Be creative. Include the website on water bills with a summary of what can be found online. Do the same with CCRs mailed to consumers. Many city websites also have notification systems where messages can be sent out automatically to a majority of residents as both phone and text messages. These are used for both emergency alerts and outreach purposes. Many water utilities already use these notification tools to inform residents of impending repairs, water shutoffs, and boil orders. Using this tool, as well as RSS feeds and social media, to disseminate the information mentioned in this article should be considered. In conclusion, water utilities must increase transparency about the vital role that they play in their communities. Having a website is the most cost- effective way to accomplish this. Consumers who view this content should gain a greater appreciation for the work that the water utility does. Once consumers have an understanding of the hard work involved in running a water utility, they will become more confident in the staff that runs the utility and place a greater value on water. Publication of testing results complemented by the emphasis of the rigorous compliance monitoring and regulation that tap water is subjected to should serve to ease consumers' concerns. Articles with links to further information on topics such as tap versus bottled water and water fluoridation will show consumers that the water utility is knowledgeable and competent in addressing more complex concerns. Educating consumers also serves as an indirect way to facilitate approval for rate increases in the future and procurement of necessary funding that needs both public and stakeholder approval. Many consumers are unaware of what exactly it is that water utilities do. To fix this, water utilities must be completely transparent and make an effort to provide authoritative information on a regular basis. Julia Adamiak has been the laboratory supervisor for the City of Waukegan Water Treatment Plant since 2008. Adamiak holds a B.S. degree in biological sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago. 1 8 _ V E R T _ 0 5 1 4 C l e a n w a t e r _ W a u k e g a n _ D G . i n d d 3 18_VERT_0514 Cleanwater_Waukegan_DG.indd 3 4 / 2 1 / 2 0 1 4 3 : 0 3 : 4 8 P M 4/21/2014 3:03:48 PM