How to Address Consumers' Concerns and Information Needs about Emerging Chemical and Microbial Contaminants in Drinking Water; The Case of GenX in The Netherlands

Liesbeth Claassen; Julia Hartmann; Susanne Wuijts

doi:10.3390/ijerph182010615

How to Address Consumers' Concerns and Information Needs about Emerging Chemical and Microbial Contaminants in Drinking Water; The Case of GenX in The Netherlands

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Oct 11;18(20):10615. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182010615.

Authors

Liesbeth Claassen¹, Julia Hartmann^{1

2}, Susanne Wuijts^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
² Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5048, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands.
³ Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law, Utrecht University, Newtonlaan 231, 3584 BH Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Abstract

The perceived safety of tap water is an important condition for consumers to drink it. Therefore, addressing consumers' concerns should be included in the roadmap towards the UN SDG 6 on safe drinking water for all. This paper studies consumers' information needs regarding emerging contaminants in drinking water using a mental model approach for the development of targeted risk communication. As most consumers expect safe drinking water, free of contamination, communication on emerging contaminants may increase concerns. Here, we showed that communication strategies better tailored to consumers' information needs result in smaller increases in risk perception compared with existing strategies.

Keywords: drinking water; emerging contaminants; mental models; risk communication; risk perception.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Communication
Drinking Water*
Models, Psychological
Netherlands

Substances

Drinking Water