Summary of National Report Card on Safe Drinking Water Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors
The year 1999 marked the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the national law that set in place a framework to provide Americans with safe drinking water. The 25th anniversary year, unprecedented amounts of new information became available about public drinking water. The year 1999 marked the first year that all community water systems (those serving the same customers year-round) provided their customers with an annual report on the contents and relative quality of their tap water. These reports, called Consumer Confidence Reports in the Act, contain information about the water sources - surface and groundwater - that are used for drinking water, as well as on any contaminants that may exist in the water after it is treated. Opportunities for public involvement with water suppliers are also noted.
In 1999, every state began statewide Source Water Assessment efforts to identify activities that may pose contamination threats to sources of public water supplies and help communities prioritize protection activities.
On the eve of the release of all this new information, The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation (NEETF) commissioned a Roper Starch Worldwide survey to help us all better understand how much information Americans currently get about their tap water and what they think of that information. The water survey was part of a larger survey, conducted by telephone in May 1998, that dealt with people's environmental knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. The water survey assesses where public tap water information comes from and whether or not people are satisfied with the information they are getting. It also asks people what they know about their drinking water, how they use it, and what they are willing to do to protect it. This survey provides a benchmark for understanding people's knowledge about and interest in drinking water, and it will prove useful in assessing the long-term effects of providing public drinking water information.
The Foundation plans to repeat the water survey every two to three years to track whether or not the new information on drinking water included in the Consumer Confidence Reports reaches its intended audience and to determine what effects it has. The survey results will help America's leaders-educators, policy makers, business executives, public interest representatives, media personnel, local, state and federal government officials, and members of the general public-to learn how they can best educate all Americans about the important issues surrounding tap water.
Importantly, this survey establishes a baseline of information about public opinion, knowledge, and behaviors regarding drinking water so the impact of Safe Drinking Water Act public education programs and the Consumer Confidence Reports, in particular, may be assessed and measured in the future.
Readers should note that although the water survey results were released in July 1999, in this report the survey is sometimes referred to as the 1998 survey, since the actual telephone interviews took place in May 1998.