Public Water Service Disruptions: A Descriptive Analysis of Boil Water Advisories

Abstract

Water is the essence of life. It possesses profound spiritual and cultural importance, and serving as an indispensable requirement for the achievement of sustainable development. Access to safe, sufficient, affordable, and reliable drinking water is a human right. Water advisories can be used as an indicator of the reliability of access to safe drinking water. The objective of this article is to explore the trends and characteristics of boil water advisories (BWAs) and the reasons behind them. Visual and statistical tools were employed to describe the drinking water advisory data in Kentucky (USA). The dataset covers all counties in Kentucky for 17 years from 2004 to 2020 and contains 378 water systems and 36,673 BWAs. The average duration of BWAs was 5 days. The number of BWAs issued increased, while the average duration decreased during the study period. More BWAs occurred in the summer months (29%), in surface water (92%), and in large systems (54%). The leading factor for issuing a BWA was because of a line break or a leak (87%). It is imperative for governments, organizations, and communities to collaborate to address these issues effectively. Investing in sustainable and resilient water infrastructure is crucial to ensure access to safe water.

Factors Associated with Public Water Supply Unreliability

“…Despite having 417 CWSs serving a significant majority (85%) of the inhabitants, the state faces a critical funding gap in maintaining adequate water infrastructure, with only 9% of the necessary funding having been secured and 4% of the population receiving water from systems that lack technical, managerial, and financial capabilities [36,37]. While aging infrastructure and lack of investment are often cited as primary causes in the literature [6], this study demonstrates that other factors play significant roles. The results reveal relationships between water system characteristics (i.e., age, water source, protection, operator experience, facilities, size, and ownership), socio-economic factors (i.e., income, employment, and education), and demographic composition of the served areas (i.e., percentage of residents living in rural areas and percentage of Black, Native, and Hispanic residents) and the frequency of BWNs.…”

“…The disproportionate burden of water insecurity on minority communities, particularly Native American populations in our study, echoes the findings of prior research. Research has shown a correlation between the percentage of Black [30] and Hispanic [29,30,50] residents, People of Color [33], poor and minority communities [27], Appalachian counties [6,10], indigenous communities [25], and First Nations communities [13,20,31,32] and the frequency of SDWA violations. Some studies indicated that race/ethnicity effects may be contingent upon socioeconomic status (e.g., income, education, and poverty line) [30,47].…”

“…Many water systems use old pipes and facilities that are more likely to fail [6,15]. Poorly designed or constructed infrastructure can result in more failures and water quality issues [16].…”

“…Different water sources generate different bases of vulnerability to contamination and other problems, potentially increasing the risk of unreliability [13,23]. Surface water sources are generally more vulnerable to contamination [6,23], while groundwater sources tend to be more stable and reliable [6,13]. Source water protection is important for maintaining water quality, reducing treatment costs, and ensuring public water supply reliability [24].…”