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

2023年2月，俄亥俄州东巴勒斯坦发生火车脱轨事故，导致大规模化学品泄漏和火灾，引发广泛担忧。这一快速反应研究补助金(RAPID)项目旨在收集关于公众感知和经验以及人与基础设施相互作用的短暂数据。在环境污染事件期间，提供和获得准确、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。在应对许多自然灾害和开水通知时，人们研究了公众对水系统的看法，但对这种情况在人为危机期间是如何展开的了解有限。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可能对饮用水产生的影响，造成了错误信息和如何应对的不确定性。东巴勒斯坦活动提供了一个独特的机会，研究人类如何与基础设施互动，以及如何改善来自响应组织的水质数据的沟通，以赢得公众的信任。具体地说，这项工作将1)确定公众对水安全的看法和相应的行为，涉及组织沟通的有效性、对测试结果的信任程度以及他们寻找的信息来源；2)记录组织如何收集水质数据并传播结果，以揭示风险沟通中的挑战和障碍。将对社区成员和回答问题的组织进行半结构化访谈和调查。将对业务和通信文件进行编目和审查。以风险感知、保护行动和水不安全理论为依据的数据收集程序将允许将其转化为其他灾害类型或环境背景。这项工作还将为应对未来灾难的机构提出建议。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.