Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID DC_2024_Deksissa

Assessing household-level water security, quality, and trust in Washington, DC

Institute: District of Columbia
Year Established: 2024 Start Date: 2024-09-01 End Date: 2025-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $15,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $19,878

Principal Investigators: Tolessa Deksissa, Alicia Cooperman

Project Summary: Most research on this topic focuses on poorer countries, but not much has been done in richer countries. Also, many studies just look at whether people have tap water at home, but not if it's reliable, safe, and affordable. This project is happening in Washington, DC. The goals are to check how safe the water is in people's homes, how much they trust it, and how this affects their lives. They will share the results with the people involved and the public. They will also share their findings with other researchers and publish them. They're doing this by surveying people and testing their water. The surveys ask about water safety, cost, and trust. They use a standard method for testing water quality. By doing this, they want to help people understand their water better and see how it affects their lives. They also want to help the city's water company improve by giving them information about why people don't trust tap water and how to fix it.