Temporal public perceptions and experiences during water service disruptions: the case of Jackson, Mississippi
Failures in urban water systems are becoming a common occurrence in the US due to disasters, aging infrastructure, and financial constraints, among other concerns. For example, Jackson, Mississippi has experienced reoccurring water outages, burdening community members as they must seek alternative w...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ad1bb8 |
| _version_ | 1797353273783484416 |
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| author | Haniye Safarpour Lauryn A Spearing |
| author_facet | Haniye Safarpour Lauryn A Spearing |
| author_sort | Haniye Safarpour |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Failures in urban water systems are becoming a common occurrence in the US due to disasters, aging infrastructure, and financial constraints, among other concerns. For example, Jackson, Mississippi has experienced reoccurring water outages, burdening community members as they must seek alternative water sources. Prior research has primarily focused on technical, institutional, and public health aspects of water crises, with limited attention to community perspectives. Understanding such social aspects can shed light on, for example, community priorities, levels of trust, mental health concerns, and communication gaps. Here, we document the temporal experiences and perceptions of community members during the Jackson Water Crises. To do so, we qualitatively analyzed news media data and employed topic modeling techniques on social media data from two years, capturing two service disruption events. Our results reveal the cascading impacts of water outages on end-users, including financial, social, and technical issues. For example, over time, results indicate that trust in the government and water providers in Jackson eroded, which may hinder public support. Our results show that social media can be a useful tool for utilities to understand public perceptions in real-time. Recommendations proposed here can inform future responses to water crises in Jackson and other communities, ensuring end-users’ perspectives are incorporated. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T13:28:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b62db852082b41629f7e9e7bff024e00 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2634-4505 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T13:28:46Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj.art-b62db852082b41629f7e9e7bff024e002024-01-17T11:56:48ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability2634-45052024-01-014101500310.1088/2634-4505/ad1bb8Temporal public perceptions and experiences during water service disruptions: the case of Jackson, MississippiHaniye Safarpour0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8718-2438Lauryn A Spearing1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5459-5909Department of Civil, Materials, and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois Chicago , Chicago, IL, United States of AmericaDepartment of Civil, Materials, and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois Chicago , Chicago, IL, United States of AmericaFailures in urban water systems are becoming a common occurrence in the US due to disasters, aging infrastructure, and financial constraints, among other concerns. For example, Jackson, Mississippi has experienced reoccurring water outages, burdening community members as they must seek alternative water sources. Prior research has primarily focused on technical, institutional, and public health aspects of water crises, with limited attention to community perspectives. Understanding such social aspects can shed light on, for example, community priorities, levels of trust, mental health concerns, and communication gaps. Here, we document the temporal experiences and perceptions of community members during the Jackson Water Crises. To do so, we qualitatively analyzed news media data and employed topic modeling techniques on social media data from two years, capturing two service disruption events. Our results reveal the cascading impacts of water outages on end-users, including financial, social, and technical issues. For example, over time, results indicate that trust in the government and water providers in Jackson eroded, which may hinder public support. Our results show that social media can be a useful tool for utilities to understand public perceptions in real-time. Recommendations proposed here can inform future responses to water crises in Jackson and other communities, ensuring end-users’ perspectives are incorporated.https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ad1bb8public perceptionswater infrastructure managementJackson water crisismedia analysis |
| spellingShingle | Haniye Safarpour Lauryn A Spearing Temporal public perceptions and experiences during water service disruptions: the case of Jackson, Mississippi Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability public perceptions water infrastructure management Jackson water crisis media analysis |
| title | Temporal public perceptions and experiences during water service disruptions: the case of Jackson, Mississippi |
| title_full | Temporal public perceptions and experiences during water service disruptions: the case of Jackson, Mississippi |
| title_fullStr | Temporal public perceptions and experiences during water service disruptions: the case of Jackson, Mississippi |
| title_full_unstemmed | Temporal public perceptions and experiences during water service disruptions: the case of Jackson, Mississippi |
| title_short | Temporal public perceptions and experiences during water service disruptions: the case of Jackson, Mississippi |
| title_sort | temporal public perceptions and experiences during water service disruptions the case of jackson mississippi |
| topic | public perceptions water infrastructure management Jackson water crisis media analysis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ad1bb8 |
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