The article I selected for this research example is “Consuming Untreated Water in Four Southwestern Alaska Native Communities: Reasons Revealed and Recommendations for Change.” The article is in the Journal of Environmental Health Volume 77, Number 5, December 2014. The authors of this article discuss why some Alaska native people drink untreated water when untreated water is available. The qualitative research was conducted in four Alaska native villages that have treated water available. Eighty-two percent of the people responded to the survey reported that some of their drinking water came from an untreated source such as river and rain water. The authors found that the reasons people drank untreated water could be captured in six categories: chemicals, taste, health, access, tradition, and cost. Many respondents who did not like drinking treated water expressed concerns about the chemicals used in the water treatment process, and they did not like the taste and smell of the treated water. Many of the respondents associated treated water with health problems such as stomachaches, diarrhea, headaches, allergic reactions, dry skin, and even death. The authors believe that understanding why Alaskan native people continue to drink to untreated water when treated water is available is important to design strategies to change behavior towards drinking treated water. They believe that education about the benefits of untreated water and the risks involved with drinking untreated water is critical. It is common knowledge that drinking untreated water exposes a person to a high risk for diseases; however, the Alaska Natives had a completely different view of untreated water. The authors recommend that designing interventions that address the six categories for not drinking treated water will help to change behavior. They also believe that this kind of strategy can be applied to a range of topics in environmental health such as promoting seat belt usage among drivers, encouraging food service workers to wash their hands, and increasing compliance with environmental regulations.

Troy L. Ritter, Ellen D. S. Lopez, Rachel Goldberger, Jennifer Dobson, Korie Hickel, Rhonda M. Johnson, Andrea Bersamin. 2014 “Consuming Untreated Water in Four Southwestern Alaska Native Communities: Reasons Revealed and Recommendations for Change.” Journal of Environmental Health. Vol 77(5): 8-13.