Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, 2121 W Taylor, MC 922, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
J Water Health. 2011 Sep;9(3):556-68. doi: 10.2166/wh.2011.171.
Programs to notify the public about water quality at beaches are developed at the state and local levels. We sought to characterize the messages and message delivery options in use, and information about the effectiveness of these beach notification programs.
A telephone survey of 37 US state, tribal and territorial and 18 county, city or local beach programs was conducted to characterize current public notification practices and any evaluations of those practices.
Beach notification practices vary substantially at the state and local levels. Color-coded signs or flags are commonly used, but not universally, and the color schemes and their meanings vary. New communication approaches utilizing text messaging and the internet are in use or under development for local use. Few communication methods had undergone systematic evaluations of their content, delivery methods or effectiveness in promoting behavior change.
The prevention of waterborne illness requires communications that effectively promote the avoidance of swimming when water quality is impaired. Current communication practices are variable and generally have not undergone formal evaluations for their effectiveness. It is not known whether or how they impact health risk.
州和地方各级都制定了有关海滩水质通知公众的计划。我们试图描述当前使用的信息内容和信息传递选项，并了解这些海滩通知计划的效果。
对 37 个美国州、部落和地区以及 18 个县、市或地方海滩计划进行了电话调查，以描述当前的公众通知做法以及对这些做法的任何评估。
海滩通知做法在州和地方各级有很大差异。彩色标志或旗帜通常被使用，但并非普遍使用，而且颜色方案及其含义也各不相同。新的通信方法，如利用短信和互联网，正在当地使用或正在开发中。很少有沟通方法对其内容、传递方法或在促进行为改变方面的效果进行过系统评估。
预防水传播疾病需要进行有效的沟通，以促进在水质受损时避免游泳。当前的沟通做法存在差异，并且通常没有经过正式评估其效果。尚不清楚它们是否以及如何影响健康风险。
