RAPID: Human-Infrastructure Interactions with Water Systems during the East Palestine Industrial Crisis

2023年2月发生在俄亥俄州东巴勒斯坦的火车出轨事故，导致大规模化学品泄漏和火灾，引发广泛担忧。快速反应研究（RAPID）项目旨在收集关于公众感知和经验以及人类与基础设施互动的短暂数据。在环境污染事件期间，提供和获取准确、可靠和可信的信息对于社区成员采取适当的保护行动至关重要。公众对水系统的看法已被研究，以应对许多自然灾害和开水通知，但在人为危机期间如何展开的理解有限。收集的数据将促进社区复原力的理论建设，同时为未来的应急响应和风险沟通提供有价值的见解。社区成员在很大程度上不知道对饮用水可能产生的影响，从而造成了如何应对的错误信息和不确定性。东巴勒斯坦事件提供了一个独特的机会，研究人类如何与基础设施互动，以及如何改善响应组织的水质数据交流，以获得公众信任。具体而言，这项工作将1）确定公众对水安全的看法和相应的行为，关于组织沟通的有效性，对测试结果的信任程度，以及他们寻求的信息来源; 2）记录组织如何收集水质数据和传播结果，以揭示风险沟通的挑战和障碍。将对社区成员和响应组织进行半结构化采访和调查。将对操作和通信文件进行编目和检查。根据风险认知、保护行动和水不安全理论制定的数据收集程序，将允许转化为其他灾害类型或环境背景。这项工作也将导致对未来灾害的机构响应的建议。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, led to a large-scale chemical spill and fire, creating widespread concerns. This Grant for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project aims to collect ephemeral data on public perceptions and experiences, as well as human-infrastructure interactions. During environmental contamination events, the provision of and access to accurate, reliable, and trusted information is critical to appropriate protective actions taken by community members. Public perceptions about water systems have been studied in response to many natural disasters and boil water notices, but there is limited understanding of how this unfolds during man-made crises. The data collected will spur theory building in community resilience while providing valuable insight for informing future emergency response and risk communications.The possible impacts on drinking water were largely unknown by community members, creating misinformation and uncertainty as to how to respond. The East Palestine event offers a unique opportunity to study how humans interact with infrastructure and how communication of water quality data from responding organizations can be improved to garner public trust. Specifically, this work will 1) identify public perceptions about water safety and corresponding behaviors, with respect to the effectiveness of communication from organizations, the level of trust in test results, and the information sources they seek out; and 2) document how organizations collected water quality data and disseminated results to reveal challenges and barriers in risk communication. Semi-structured interviews and surveys with community members and responding organizations will be conducted. Operational and communication documentation will be cataloged and examined. Data collection procedures, as informed by risk perception, protective action, and water insecurity theories, will allow for translation to other disaster types or environmental contexts. This work will also lead to recommendations for agencies responding to future disasters.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.