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

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.