From Water to Worry: Identifying Risk Perception of Contaminants of Emerging Concern in U.S. Coastal Communities.

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are increasingly detected in aquatic ecosystems and pose a global challenge due to their potential threats to both environmental and human health. While human risk perception is crucial for effective risk communication and assessment, public awareness, understanding, and perceived risk of CECs remain largely unknown. To address this gap, we deployed an original survey targeting coastal shoreline counties along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts in June to July 2023. Using the data collected (n = 1,063), we assessed individual level of worry and perceived danger associated with CECs. Though fewer than half of respondents (40.6%) had heard of CECs before the survey, the vast majority view CECs as dangerous (82.1%) and express worry about the harm CECs could pose to themselves (80%), others (78.8%), and the environment (84%). Ordered logistic regression revealed two key factors significantly influencing individuals’ perception of greater danger and increased worry (p < 0.05): (i) heightened exposure to CECs and (ii) a higher interest in environmental pollution. These factors remained strong independent predictors across all risk perception questions, even when controlling for demographics and attitudes that typically shape public perception of other pollutants (e.g., air pollution) and environmental hazards (e.g., climate change). This suggests that public risk perception of CECs differs from other environmental hazards, highlighting key opportunities for targeted interventions to raise awareness and concern around these emerging threats.

Presentation Preference: Poster

Primary Presenter: Sarah Kopczynski, Texas A&M University at Galveston (sndavis1@tamu.edu)

Authors:

Sarah Kopczynski, Texas A&M University at Galveston, Department of Marine Biology  (sndavis1@tamu.edu)

Ashley Ross, Texas A&M University, Department of Marine and Coastal Environmental Science  (ashleydross@tamug.edu)

Antonietta Quigg, Texas A&M University at Galveston, Department of Marine Biology  (quigga@tamug.edu)