00 Context
Problem Statement
A private well is a water source that is unregulated by the government. Well owners, have to ensure that their water is free of contaminants, and educate themselves on emerging contaminants. Just how adequate is communication regarding PFAS between the government, organizations, and private well owners?
Description
Role: UX Researcher, Visual Designer
Tools Used: Miro
Constraints: Investigating water protection
01 Project Overview
This UX research project investigates the awareness of PFAs contamination among private well owners. This was of particular concern to our group because we discovered that contaminant levels in private wells are NOT regulated by the government. Therefore, it is wholly up to the well owners to ensure they are drinking safe water.
The underlying research question is: to what extent are the well owners aware of contaminants, and where can government organizations intercept to improve understanding and awareness?
Source: EGLE (michigan.gov)
02 Background and Secondary Research
We scraped the internet for all of the currently available resources for well owners produced by the government. We discovered:
• Documents produced by the Michigan government
• Instructional videos
• Quality testing kits and vendors
• Interactive web-apps
• Informational posts
• Scientific literature on health consequences of PFAs
• Documents produced by the Michigan government
• Instructional videos
• Quality testing kits and vendors
• Interactive web-apps
• Informational posts
• Scientific literature on health consequences of PFAs
Key Takeaways:
1. PFAs an emerging contaminant that is linked to adverse health effects, but more research needs to be done
2. There are minimal resources for private well owners aside from publications by Michigan EGLE.
03 User Interviews
Next, we identified two private well owners in their own homes to gain an understanding of their general water usage, testing system, and awareness of PFAs.
Key Finding 01
Well owners had little to no awareness about PFAs. They did not test for this contaminant.
"I have no idea [about PFAS]. I wonder if my water test result actually measures that." — Interviewee 01
"Plastics. I was picturing in my head things that I had heard [from] the door-to-door people. But I don't know. " — Interviewee 02
Key Finding 02
Well owners did not receive information about their well from the government. Most, if not all research, was done independently.
"My husband talked to the man who owned [this] house and then to his son who had lived here" — Interviewee 02
"I just do my own research and my own testing. [E]verything is provided by the Ypsilanti laboratory [report]." — Interviewee 01
04 Affinity Diagram
We produced an affinity diagram on Miro for the purpose of visually organizing and representing related ideas, observations, or data to identify patterns, insights, and themes.
05 Early Suggestions
Based on this research, one we generated an early suggestion for the client. Given that the State government (despite its limited legal reach) has shown a vested interested into provided resources for these private well owners. Our suggestion would be to expand on these resources by intercepting with well owners at A) the point of construction or B) at the point of well ownership exchange.
What might they intercept with?
• At a minimum, the currently available resources in print form are a must.
• Resources on the MiWell webpage can be linked to or repurposed into a mobile application.
• Develop opt-in subscription-based water testing service based on the Michigan certified PFAs testing laboratories.
• Peruse legally requiring these resources at point of interception.
• Resources on the MiWell webpage can be linked to or repurposed into a mobile application.
• Develop opt-in subscription-based water testing service based on the Michigan certified PFAs testing laboratories.
• Peruse legally requiring these resources at point of interception.
06 Next Steps
1. Survey well owners to get more data on awareness of PFAS and other contaminants.
2. Interview government organizations to better understand their scope.
3. Bridge the information gap between the government and public through information solution.
06 Final In-class presentation