Groundwater Contamination and Extreme Weather Events: Perception-Based Clusters of Irish Well Users

Extreme weather events (EWEs) may significantly increase pathogenic contamination of private (unregulated) groundwater supplies. Given the current paucity of guidance in this context, well owners may be ill-equipped to undertake responsive actions. With rising cases of waterborne illness documented in groundwater-dependent rural regions, a better understanding of well user risk perception is required to develop appropriate interventions. To this end, a survey was developed to identify current risk perceptions among Irish private well owners concerning EWEs and groundwater contamination. Respondents were surveyed on actions taken in the aftermath of five recent national weather events including drought and flood and clustered based on perceived consequences. Results suggest that well owners are not inclined to undertake systematic well maintenance in the wake of an event, with only 13.1% (n = 37) of affected respondents subsequently testing their water. Two-step cluster analysis identified three distinct respondent groups based on perception of climate change impacts on well contamination, with perception level significantly related to respondent age (p = 0.003), education (p = 0.000) and gender (p = 0.002). These findings may enable development of customized risk information for private well owners and reduce the risk of human illness associated with groundwater.