Texas’ water quality challenge and the need for better communication in an era of increasing water quality contamination events
Vol. 9 No. 1 (2018). Cover Photo: Sunrise over Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program land. ©2017 John Reuthinger.
PDF

Keywords

Safe Drinking Water Act
Environmental Protection Agency
MCLs
Maximum Contaminant Levels
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Texas Water Development Board

How to Cite

Mulki, Sapna, Carlos Rubinstein, and Julianne Saletta. 2018. “Texas’ Water Quality Challenge and the Need for Better Communication in an Era of Increasing Water Quality Contamination Events”. Texas Water Journal 9 (1). College Station, Texas:108-19. https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v9i1.7059.

Abstract

As Texas cities experience an increase in incidents associated with water quality contamination, the need for public
education and engagement increases. The discussion in this paper identifies, based on publicly available data, three of the most common incidents in Texas related to drinking water and environmental contamination: boil water notices (BWNs), sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs), and lead in drinking water. Trends observed from 2011 to 2016 indicate a sharp upward increase in the incidents of such events. Increased frequency of incidents that threaten water quality often erodes public trust in the city and utility, thus making it more difficult in the long term to get public support for increased investment in water and wastewater infrastructure. The recommendations in this study focus on how to manage communications when events associated with water quality create a public relations challenge for city and utility leaders.

Citation: Mulki S, Rubinstein C, Saletta J. 2018. Texas' water quality challenge and the need for better communication in an era of increasing water quality contamination events. Texas Water Journal. 9(1):108-119. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v9i1.7059.

https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v9i1.7059
PDF

References

[ASCE Texas Section] Texas Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. 2012. CPA 2012 Report card for Texas’ infrastructure. Available from: http://www.infrastructure¬reportcard.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2012-Texas- Report-Card-FINAL.pdf

Fonger R. 2018 Feb 20. UM report: Gov. Snyder bears ‘sig¬nificant legal responsibility’ for Flint water crisis. M Live. [cited 2018 Aug 29]. Available from: https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2018/02/um_report_gov_sny¬der_bears_sig.html

Hersher RH. 2016 Dec 18. Tap water in Corpus Christi is safe, authorities say. National Public Radio. [cited 2016 Sep 22]. Available from: http://www.npr.org/sections/ thetwo-way/2016/12/18/506062239/tap-water-in-cor¬pus-christi-is-safe-authorities-say

Morris MM. 2016 Aug 27. Sewer spills put city under EPA scrutiny. Houston Chronicle. [cited 2017 April 6]. Avail¬able from: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/hous¬ton-texas/houston/article/Sewer-spills-put-city-under- EPA-scrutiny-9188683.php

[NY.GOV]. New York Government. 2012. FAQs. Boil Water Notices - Frequently asked questions for residents and homeowners. [cited 2016 Sep 22]. Available from: https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/boil-water/faq_residents_and_homeowners.htm#q1

Oosting J, Carah J. The Detroit News. 2016 Feb 26. Snyder: ‘I’m kicking myself every day’ on Flint water. [cited 2018 Aug 29]. Available from: https://www.detroitnews.com/ story/news/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/02/26/sny¬der-water-bill-relief/80979926/

Quinn KQ. 2015 Oct 26. City of Houston: Sewage spills can’t be prevented in heavy rain events. ABC13. [cited 2016 Sep 22]. Available from: http://abc13.com/weather/city-of-houston-sewage-spills-cant-be-prevented/1052536/

Shaver K. and Hedgpeth D. 2016 Mar 16. D.C.’s decade-old problem of lead in water gets new attention during Flint crisis. Washington Post. [cited 2018 Aug 29]. Available from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dcs-decade-old-problem-of-lead-in-water-gets-new-attention-during-flint-crisis/2016/03/17/79f8d476-ec64-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=. c639c71a566c

[SAWS]. San Antonio Water System. 2013 June 4. SAWS agrees to settlement with EPA to curb sewer spills. SAWS Press Release. [cited 2016 Sep 22]. Available from: http://www.saws.org/latest_news/NewsDrill.cfm?news_id=916

[TCEQ] Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. c 2002-2018. FAQs on Sanitary Sewer Overflow Initiative. [updated 2018 June 22; cited 2016 Sep 22]. Available from: https://www.tceq.texas.gov/compliance/investiga¬tion/ssoinitiative

[TWDB] Texas Water Development Board. 2016a. Region C Planning Group. [cited 2016 Sep 22]. Available from: https://www.twdb.texas.gov/waterplanning/rwp/ regions/c/

[TWDB] Texas Water Development Board. 2016b. Region H Planning Group. [cited 2016 Sep 22]. Available from: https://www.twdb.texas.gov/waterplanning/rwp/ regions/h/

[TWDB] Texas Water Development Board. 2017. Texas Water Plan. [cited 2016 Sep 22]. Available from: https://www. twdb.texas.gov/waterplanning/swp/2017/

[US EPA] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2016a. EPA survey shows $271 billion needed for nations waste¬water infrastructure. [cited 2016 Sep 22]. Available from: https://archive.epa.gov/epa/newsreleases/epa-sur¬vey-shows-271-billion-needed-nations-wastewater-in¬frastructure.html

[US EPA] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2016b. Basic information about lead in drinking water. [updat¬ed 2018 March 23; cited 2016 Sep 22]. Available from: https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/ basic-information-about-lead-drinking-water

[US EPA] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2004. Report to Congress: Impacts and control Of CSOs And SSOs. p.24

Walker NW. 2016 Jul 21. Boil order lifted for water cus¬tomers in Benbrook Neighborhood but distrust persists. NBCDFW. [cited 2016 Sep 22]. Available from: http:// www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Boil-Order-Lifted-for-Wa¬ter-Customers-in-Benbrook-Neighborhood-But-Distrust- Persists-387890562.html

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2018 Sapna Mulki, Carlos Rubinstein, Julianne Saletta