Date of Award

Fall 2025

Project Type

Dissertation

Program or Major

Natural Resources and Environmental Studies

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

First Advisor

Weiwei Mo

Second Advisor

Robin Collins

Third Advisor

Semra Aytur

Abstract

Despite extensive efforts to ensure clean and safe drinking water, drinking water contamination emergencies remain a persistent challenge in the United States. These events can result in widespread public health impacts, economic losses, and long-term environmental damage, particularly when triggered by hazardous chemical releases. Effective management of such crises requires a dual focus on both technical preparedness and human decision-making. This dissertation addresses these challenges through a two-part investigation that bridges pre-incident planning and post-incident response. It is guided by two core research objectives: (1) to evaluate commonly applied emergency countermeasures from both resilience and sustainability perspectives; and (2) to examine how behavioral preferences, specifically time preference, risk attitude, and social preference, influence decision-making in emergency response scenarios.To address the first objective, the dissertation systematically reviews eight widely used emergency countermeasures, including monitoring, local alternatives, reclaimed water, interconnection, bulk water, pre-packaged water, emergency treatment, and isolation valves. Each countermeasure was discussed from resilience and life cycle cost perspectives. The results revealed the tradeoff between resilience and life cycle cost, and suggested it is more prudent to plan for multiple countermeasures to enhance the ability of water utilities to adapt to changes and effectively handle potential emergencies. To address the second objective, a serious game, City of Leaf, was developed to simulate a drinking water contamination incident caused by a spill of an unregulated chemical. Participants will take on five key stakeholder roles: chemical manufacturer, local resident, water treatment plant, environmental agency, or health department. Each role comes with confidential instructions that outline the role’s unique perspective, knowledge, and objectives, which need to be communicated to inform future decisions on response actions. The game is played in rounds until all roles are satisfied with the outcome of the contamination event. Initial findings from deploying this game with college students reveal that a more collaborative interorganizational communication network leads to better response outcomes. This observation underscores the vital role of effective and proactive communication and collaboration in managing drinking water contamination emergencies. Additional game sessions were conducted in conjunction with a behavioral preference survey to examine how behavioral preferences (i.e. time preference, risk attitude, and social preference) influence emergency response decisions. Statistical analyses linked behavioral preferences with in-game decisions and outcomes from individual, group, and role-specific perspectives. At the individual level, results suggest that participants’ communication frequency, actions, and satisfaction were largely driven by role responsibilities, with behavioral preferences having limited effects. However, the group-level analysis indicated that certain aggregated behavioral preferences, e.g. group averaged probability weighting and loss aversion, predicted collective decision-making patterns. The role-specific analysis further revealed the interactions between certain behavioral preferences and role performance: for instance, negative reciprocity was strongly associated with compensation-seeking behaviors among residents, while altruism reduced residents’ likelihood of demanding compensation but increased contamination exposure rate. Taken together, these findings suggest that behavioral preferences are a modifiable and actionable component of water emergency preparedness. Training and personnel selection that consider behavioral compatibility with role demands may improve coordination and crisis response outcomes. By integrating technical, economic, and behavioral dimensions, this research advances a holistic understanding of drinking water emergency response. The findings offer practical insights for water system managers, policymakers, and emergency planners aiming to design more sustainable and effective drinking water system emergency response strategies.

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