Clear or compliant? The tension between regulatory requirements and public comprehension in boil water advisories

Risk communications should provide clear messages to the public so people can take appropriate actions to protect their health and safety. Boil Water Advisories (BWAs), for instance, help safeguard communities from water quality issues. This study evaluates BWA effectiveness by analyzing 85 advisories from four Texas metropolitan areas, collected from press releases and social media platforms (e.g., Facebook). The evaluation focused on two main aspects: content compliance, to assess if the content meets state-wide requirements; and readability, to determine if the general public can easily understand the information. The results show that while press releases generally include essential content, adhering to the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) guidelines, social media posts often lack essential information, such as mandatory language for the severity of the water contamination, action items, and contact details for real-time updates. Water utilities face challenges balancing regulatory compliance with effective public guidance. They can benefit from adapting communications across different platforms while maintaining appropriate reading levels for diverse audiences. Specifically, while press releases can meet regulatory standards with comprehensive content, their higher reading difficulty often makes them inaccessible to many audiences. Social media requires brief communication that cannot easily be compliant, but those messages are easier to understand. This study offers insights to help utilities enhance multi-channel BWA communication strategies and suggests regulatory agencies develop more realistic guidelines that acknowledge communication platform constraints while ensuring effective public response during water-related emergencies. • This study evaluates the compliance and readability of boil water advisories (BWA). • Results of evaluations vary based on purposes, channels, and regions. • Findings support the need for tailored regulatory frameworks in BWA. • Multi-channel communication strategies can improve reach for diverse end-users.