Household water disinfection in hurricane-affected communities of Louisiana: implications for disaster preparedness for the general public.
OBJECTIVE
Thousands of Louisiana residents were asked to boil water because of widespread disruptions in electricity and natural gas services after Hurricane Rita. We sought to assess awareness of boil water orders and familiarity with household water disinfection techniques other than boiling.


METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional survey in randomly selected mobile home communities in Louisiana.


RESULTS
We interviewed 196 respondents from 8 communities, which had boil water orders instituted. Of 97 who were home while communities were still under orders to boil water, 30 (31%) were aware of the orders and, of those, 24 (80%) said the orders were active while they were living at home; of the 24, 10 (42%) reported boiling water. Overall, 163 (83%) respondents were aware of a method of water disinfection at the household level: boiling (78%), chlorination (27%), and filtration (25%); 87% had a container of chlorine bleach at home.


CONCLUSIONS
Few hurricane-affected respondents were aware of boil water orders and of alternate water disinfection techniques. Most had access to chlorine and could have practiced household chlorination if disruption in natural gas and electricity made boiling impossible.
Ram
Pavani K
PK
Diarrheal Diseases Epidemiology Team, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga, USA. pkram@buffalo.edu
Blanton
Elizabeth
E
Klinghoffer
Debra
D
Platek
Mary
M
Piper
Janet
J
Straif-Bourgeois
Susanne
S
Bonner
Matthew R
MR
Mintz
Eric D
ED
D002713:Chlorine; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004189:Disaster Planning; D004190:Disasters; D004203:Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008145:Louisiana; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014881:Water Supply
D002713:Chlorine