Partners in Protecting Public Health: How the water sector and health professionals can effectively communicate the safety of water reuse

Access to a safe and reliable water supply is an essential part of ensuring public health and building community resiliency. With continued stress on traditional water sources, and rising exploration of alternative water supplies, water reuse is becoming a larger area of focus in communities. Water reuse, or water recycling, is a proven, science-based process that intentionally captures wastewater, stormwater, saltwater, or graywater and treats it for a designated beneficial freshwater purpose such as drinking, industrial processes, surface or ground water replenishment, and watershed restoration. As the water industry explores recycling water for the purpose of drinking (i.e., potable reuse), communication and public education has been identified as a critical factor in enabling project success. Concerted efforts are being made by utilities and organizations to reach the general public and consumers to communicate the safety of water reuse. Building relationships and a shared knowledge of water reuse processes, risks, and safety between the public health and medical communities and the water sector is key. This session will feature Bart Weiss, a leader in potable reuse in Florida and the nation, to discuss communication and public education around water reuse, particularly as it relates to engaging with medical and public health professionals. The Water Research Foundation Project 13-02 clearly identified the importance of communication plan that includes medical and public health professionals. It is known that community members seek advice on the health of water reuse from their medical professionals and that the public is interested in communication around the safety, quality, and treatment process for direct potable reuse. Building off this knowledge, this presentation will draw from numerous case studies and research around public education, highlighting the importance of engaging public health, health care, and water sector professionals throughout the public outreach process. More broadly, this work will summarize various activities through the WateReuse Association's Public Health and Medical Community Initiative. The University of Texas, Houston School of Public Health and El Paso Water represent one such partnership between public health and water sector professionals. This partnership enabled a greater understanding of how community members respond to various forms of public education. Such findings include the increase in support as residents learn more about potable water reuse (figure 1). Additional partnerships include the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida's collaboration on Florida's Potable Reuse plan and education efforts throughout the state. This partnership builds off the knowledge that the public wants to hear from medical professionals, and in turn enables those medical professionals with key water safety information. Dr. Donna Petersen, Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of South Florida is working with WateReuse members to incorporate presentations on water reuse systems into her curriculum to properly educate Florida residents in anticipation of potable reuse in the state. Expanding these efforts nationwide will be another key to the success of the Public Health and Medical Community Initiative. Partnerships with health professionals are not the only means for the water sector to effectively engage in public education, media outreach such as that with Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN visiting El Paso Water to discuss water reuse (figure 2) and recycled water brewing such the New Water Brew Competition can also support a robust communication strategy (figure 3). Allowing the public to hear from established, trusted media sources better enables understanding of the health risks associated with potable reuse without being lost in technical jargon. In a different way, hearing from brewers on the quality recycled water focuses the conversation on the treatment processes and water quality rather than water history. Such projects, coupled with partnerships with health professionals, enable a successful public outreach strategy. This session is aimed at broadcasting key communication techniques and partnerships to better inform participants in their own outreach. Largely, the goal is to open broader conversations of the nexus between public health and water treatment.