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.