What to know
The Drinking Water Advisory Communication Toolkit (DWACT) is a research-based, practical guide to help water systems effectively communicate with partners and the public about drinking water advisories. Use the DWACT to plan, develop, implement, and evaluate communications that happen during water main breaks, pressure drops, natural disasters, or intentional contamination.
About this toolkit
The DWACT provides information on how to plan for, develop, implement, and evaluate communication activities with the public and stakeholders during drinking water notifications and advisories. This document recognizes the differences in scope, scale, and severity of situations that trigger advisories and notifications—a main break, a natural disaster, a drop in pressure, or intentional contamination. These differences affect the types of tools, planning, communication, and terminology used by drinking water systems.
This DWACT includes instructions on how to prepare for communication activities before an incident, how to communicate during an incident using provided templates and tools, and recommendations for follow-up actions and assessments after an incident. The resources include checklists, fact sheets, press releases, and specific guidance for various types of facilities (for example, high-rise buildings, childcare facilities, and healthcare facilities).
The goal of this toolkit is to enable water systems to communicate effectively with partners and the public in order to protect public health.
