摘要：Objectives. 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. In 2005, a record-breaking 14 hurricanes struck the Atlantic basin. Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the US Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, and was responsible for more than 1600 deaths and an estimated US$100 billion in property damage. Hurricane Rita struck the Texas and Louisiana coastlines on September 24, 2005, also causing extensive property damage, albeit with minimal loss of life. In the aftermath of the hurricanes, thousands of residents were left without basic municipal services, such as electricity and natural gas. 1 Direct physical damage and prolonged power outages greatly affected municipal treatment and distribution systems for drinking water, as well as wastewater treatment and collection. In areas affected by Hurricane Rita, water systems that sustained a loss of electric power or loss of pressure in the distribution system placed customers on orders to boil water. Regional health authorities provided water system operators with sample text for use in their communications with consumers regarding boil water orders; operators were not mandated to use the text provided them (Figure 1 ▶ ). In addition, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals updated an emergency news Web site with boil water order information every 24 hours. 2 Local media, such as radio and television, also carried boil water order details. Open in a separate window FIGURE 1— Boil advisory text recommended to water systems after Hurricane Rita, Louisiana, 2005. During the early posthurricane periods, power outages made communicating boil water orders by electronic media very difficult (Figure 2 ▶ ). Moreover, even if residents were aware of the boil water orders, lack of electricity and natural gas service may have prevented them from complying. We sought to examine the extent to which hurricane-affected residents in Louisiana were aware of boil water orders imposed on their communities, their compliance with the boil water orders, and knowledge of household water disinfection techniques other than boiling. Open in a separate window FIGURE 2— Communication of availability of water and sewer services by signboard adjacent to hurricane-affected community, Louisiana, 2005.
