Advisory Panel on Emerging ContaminantsSeptember 27, 2012

Outreach and Education Subcommittee

Progress Report 2

Highlights

• Dr. Kelly Reynolds – Associate Professor UA College of Public Health

• Naegleria fowleri in the News

(GettyImages ) Feeding and attachment structures

Topics

• Deadly brain amoeba infects US tap water for the first time (Maggie Fox NBC News)

• Hexavalent Chromium

Audiences/Tactics

• Most FAQs from Customers:• What is the hardness of my water?• What is the fluoride level in my water?• Why is my drinking water cloudy or milky?• Why does my skin itch after I take a shower?• Why does my water smell like rotten eggs?

• Customers are not asking about emerging contaminants. They are asking about taste, odor, cloudiness, chlorine, hardness & fluoride.

Tactics• Create two sets of FAQs

– Water quality aesthetics– Emerging contaminants

• Compile uniform answers to address public concerns• Create all material in English & Spanish • Create “information nuggets” that are multiple

audience friendly from white paper and list of emerging microbes

Success

• Developed a 12 question survey to evaluate the success of a communications program.

• Survey reviewed and approved by subcommittee

• Survey sent out to utilities the last week of August

Consensus

• Recommend focusing on Naegleria fowleri as the emerging microbial contaminant in AZ

• Recommend focusing on hexavalent

chromium as the emerging chemical contaminant in AZ