Pollution in the Press: Employing Text Analytics to Understand Regional Water Quality Narratives

Abstract

Given the interactions and interdependencies between society and drinking water quality, this study uses a socio-hydrological approach to evaluate local awareness of drinking water quality issues. By employing text analytics, we explore the potential drivers of regional water quality narratives within 25 local news sources across the United States. Specifically, the relationship between media coverage and water quality violations in communities as well as the influence of social, political, and economic factors on the coverage of water quality issues is assessed. Results suggest coverage of local drinking water quality violations do not correlate with news coverage. Additionally, news coverage varied across sociodemographic features, with a negative relationship between Hispanic and Black populations and news coverage of Lead and Copper and Disinfection Byproducts, respectively. These findings extend current understanding of variations in local narratives to consider nuances of water quality issues and indicate opportunities for increasing equity in environmental risk communication.