Environmental Sustainability & Health Institute, Technological University Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG), University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; Environmental Research Institute, University of Cork, Cork, Ireland.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Aug 25;784:147118. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147118. Epub 2021 Apr 16.
Extreme weather events (EWEs) may significantly increase pathogenic contamination of private (unregulated) groundwater supplies. However, due to the paucity of protective guidance, private well users may be ill-equipped to undertake adaptive actions. With rising instances of waterborne illness documented in groundwater-dependent, developed regions such as the Republic of Ireland, a better understanding of well user risk perceptions pertaining to EWEs is required to establish appropriate educational interventions. To this end, the current study employed an online and physical questionnaire to identify current risk perceptions and correspondent predictors among Irish private well users concerning extreme weather. Respondents were elicited via purposive sampling, with 515 private well users elucidating perceived supply contamination risk in the wake of five EWEs between the years 2013-2018 including drought and pluvial flooding. A novel scoring protocol was devised to quantify overall risk perception (i.e. perceived likelihood, severity and consequences) of extreme weather impacts. Overall risk perception of EWEs was found to demonstrate a significant relationship with gender (p = 0.017) and event experience (p < 0.001), with female respondents and those reporting prior event experience exhibiting higher median risk perception scores. Risk perception was additionally mediated by perceived self-efficacy in undertaking supply maintenance (p = 0.001), as well users citing confidence in ability scored significantly lower than those citing no confidence. Two-step cluster analysis identified three distinct respondent subsets based on risk perception of EWEs (high, moderate and low perception), with female respondents and those with a third-level education significantly more likely to fall within the high perception cluster. Study findings affirm that certain demographic, experiential and cognitive factors exert a significant influence on private well user risk perceptions of EWE impacts and highlight potential focal points for future educational interventions seeking to reduce the risk of human infection associated with groundwater and extreme weather.
极端天气事件（EWE）可能会显著增加私人（不受监管）地下水供应的病原体污染。然而，由于缺乏保护指导，私人水井用户可能没有能力采取适应性措施。在像爱尔兰共和国这样的地下水依赖型发达地区，有记录的水源性疾病不断增加，因此需要更好地了解与 EWE 相关的水井用户风险感知，以建立适当的教育干预措施。为此，本研究采用在线和实体问卷，在爱尔兰私人水井用户中确定了与极端天气有关的当前风险感知和对应预测因素。通过有目的的抽样来招募受访者，在 2013 年至 2018 年期间，有 515 名私人水井用户对五种 EWE（包括干旱和洪涝）后供应污染风险进行了阐述。设计了一种新的评分方案来量化极端天气影响的总体风险感知（即感知可能性、严重程度和后果）。发现 EWE 的总体风险感知与性别（p=0.017）和事件经历（p<0.001）呈显著相关，女性受访者和报告有先前事件经历的受访者表现出更高的中位数风险感知评分。风险感知还受到在承担供应维护方面的自我效能感的调节（p=0.001），那些对自己能力有信心的用户得分明显低于那些没有信心的用户。两步聚类分析根据对 EWE 的风险感知（高、中、低感知）确定了三个不同的受访者子集，女性受访者和具有第三级教育程度的受访者更有可能属于高感知集群。研究结果证实，某些人口统计学、经验和认知因素对私人水井用户对 EWE 影响的风险感知产生重大影响，并强调了未来教育干预措施的潜在重点，这些干预措施旨在降低与地下水和极端天气相关的人类感染风险。
