Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, WA, USA.
Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2020 Jun 5;20(1):863. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-08963-4.
Nitrate contamination in groundwater disproportionately impacts agricultural Latino communities, creating a significant hazard for Latinos that rely on private wells. Private well users must conduct water testing and other well stewardship behaviors to ensure that their well water is safe to drink. This study sought to identify the key factors impacting private well water testing behavior in rural, agricultural Latino communities.
We conducted 4 focus groups with private well users, 2 in Spanish and 2 in English. We recruited 37 participants from the Lower Yakima Valley, Washington State, a rural, agricultural community with a large Latino population and elevated nitrate concentrations in groundwater. A semi-structured interview guide was developed to capture factors impacting testing as guided by the Risk, Attitudes, Norms, Ability, and Self-Regulation (RANAS) model. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted by two coders to identify common themes.
Themes emerged around the factors impacting well stewardship, including well water testing, treatment, and maintenance, and were not specific to nitrate contamination. Private well users reported many of the same factors reported in other communities, with the exception of home repair experience and challenges around landlords and neighbors on shared wells, which have not been reported previously. In addition to landlords and neighbors, lack of actionable information, economic limitations, and lack of technical support emerged as factors that made well stewardship burdensome for individuals. The majority of participants reported using bottled water, including many who used point-of-use or point-of-entry water treatment systems.
The burden of well stewardship in rural, agricultural Latino communities may suggest the need for interventions at the community, county, or state levels and not at the individual level alone. Additionally, the role of landlords, neighbors on shared wells, and home repair experience in well stewardship represent important areas of exploration for researchers and public health practitioners.
地下水硝酸盐污染对农业拉丁裔社区的影响不成比例，给依赖私人水井的拉丁裔人群带来了重大危险。私人水井用户必须进行水质检测和其他水井管理行为，以确保饮用水的安全。本研究旨在确定影响农村农业拉丁裔社区私人水井水质检测行为的关键因素。
我们在华盛顿州雅基马河谷（Lower Yakima Valley）进行了 4 组焦点小组讨论，其中 2 组为西班牙语，2 组为英语。我们从一个农村农业社区招募了 37 名参与者，该社区拉丁裔人口众多，地下水硝酸盐浓度较高。根据风险、态度、规范、能力和自我调节（RANAS）模型，制定了半结构化访谈指南，以捕获影响测试的因素。两位编码员通过归纳主题分析确定了共同主题。
主题围绕着影响水井管理的因素展开，包括水井水质检测、处理和维护，而不仅仅是硝酸盐污染。与其他社区一样，私人水井用户报告了许多相同的因素，但没有报告房东和邻居在共用水井方面的经验和挑战，这是以前没有报道过的。除了房东和邻居之外，缺乏可操作的信息、经济限制以及缺乏技术支持等因素也使得个人的水井管理负担沉重。大多数参与者报告使用瓶装水，包括许多使用点源或入口水过滤系统的人。
农村农业拉丁裔社区水井管理的负担可能表明需要在社区、县或州一级采取干预措施，而不仅仅是在个人一级。此外，房东、共用水井的邻居以及房屋维修经验在水井管理中的作用是研究人员和公共卫生从业者需要探索的重要领域。
