FINAL REPORT WATER AUDIT TRANSLATION SERVICES PROGRAM. SEATTLE PUBLIC UTILITIES (SPU) Contract No. C01-055, Amendment 2

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1 FINAL REPORT WATER AUDIT TRANSLATION SERVICES PROGRAM SEATTLE PUBLIC UTILITIES (SPU) Contract No. C01-055, Amendment 2 By Jack Scannell Program Manager Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS) (206) , jack@ecoss.org ABSTRACT During the November, 2001 June 30, 2002 contract period, the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS) multicultural Outreach Educator (OE) staff was trained and conducted solo water audits in homes in the Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, East African and English-speaking communities. Of the original 15 referrals from Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), 5 resulted in solo home audits. Of the clients independently identified as appropriate program candidates by ECOSS OEs, 195 resulted in solo home audits. While the OEs typically only directly interacted and provided water conservation information to one or two persons in each household, the total number of individuals affected was 753, based on the reported populations for each residence. In addition to the solo home audits, ECOSS OEs also conducted 18 group activities for the purpose of providing general water conservation information and hardware, and setting up future home audits. The group activities directly affected 270 individuals. The evaluation phase at the completion of the home water audits program required the ECOSS OEs to make telephone contact with 20% of their clients to document responses to specific questions about the benefits of the program. For that purpose, 39 clients were contacted and queried using an SPU script. The results indicated that 100% noticed a difference in water use and thought that the audit was helpful. 95% believed that members of the family/residence changed the way they consumed water following the audit activity. Finally, of those residents paying their own water bill, 96% noticed a reduction in their bill following the audit. All program details are included in this report. 1

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Subject Page # Summary of Results 3 Introduction 3 Program Design 4 Program Results 5 Task 1 Planning/Administrative Meetings 5 Task 2 ECOSS Staff Training/Meetings 5 Task 3 Joint Translated Home Water Audits with SPU Staff 6 Task 4 Solo Home Water Audits 6 Task 5 Group Outreach Education Activities 6 Task 6 Water Audit Evaluation 7 Summary of Evaluation Responses to SPU Questions 8 ECOSS Optional Questions 9 Comments/Additional Information 10 Discussion 11 Conclusion and Recommendations 12 Attachment 1 Example of OE Group Promotion and Schedule 13 Attachment 2 Summary Information from English and Spanish Presentations 14 Attachment 3 Evaluation Forms 15 Attachment 4 OE Reports and Volunteer Comments 16 2

3 ECOSS FINAL REPORT WATER AUDIT TRANSLATION SERVICES PROGRAM SEATTLE PUBLIC UTILITIES Contract No. C01-055, Amendment 2 Original Contract Date of Beginning and Completion: November 1, 2001 January 31, 2002 Extended Contract Date of Completion: September 30, 2002 Revised Contract Date of Completion: June 30, 2002 Summary of Results During the November, 2001 June 30, 2002 contract period, the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS) multicultural Outreach Educator (OE) staff were trained and conducted solo water audits in homes in the Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, East African and English-speaking communities. Of the original 15 referrals from Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), 5 resulted in solo home audits. Of the clients independently identified as appropriate program candidates by ECOSS OEs, 195 resulted in solo home audits. While the OEs typically only directly interacted and provided water conservation information to one or two persons in each household, the total number of individuals affected was 753, based on the reported populations for each residence. In addition to the solo home audits, ECOSS OEs also conducted 18 group activities for the purpose of providing general water conservation information and hardware, and setting up future home audits. The group activities directly involved approximately 270 individuals. The number of persons indirectly benefiting from the information provided in these settings is unknown. The evaluation phase at the completion of the home water audits program required the ECOSS OEs to make telephone contact with approximately 20% of their clients to document responses to specific questions about the benefits of the program, etc. For that purpose, 39 clients were successfully contacted and queried in that manner. The results indicated that 100% noticed a difference in their water usage, thought that the audit was helpful and 95% believed that members of the family/residence changed the way they consumed water following the audit activity. Of those residents paying their own water bill, 96% noticed a reduction in their bill following the audit. Finally, although not required by the contract, ECOSS OEs asked selected clients several additional questions that had previously been used during focus group activities with the King County Household Hazardous Products Education Program. These questions were designed to determine the client's interest in participating in future programs and how to make such programs work better for providing long-lasting benefits to the community. Some of the information acquired during this question segment will be discussed in greater detail in the Discussion section. Introduction During the last week in July and the first week of August 2001, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) mailed a promotional document to its 3 rd Tier rate utility discount customers offering a home water audit service to 3

4 determine if water savings could be made for this group. Since many of the customers included in this group lack good English language communications skills, the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS) was contracted as a consultant to provide translated audit services as a supplement to SPU staff's "English only" audits. To accomplish the contract goals, SPU and ECOSS jointly trained the ECOSS staff of multicultural Outreach Educators (OEs) to provide the translated services in the languages of Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, Ethiopian, Eritrean and Somali dialects. Shortly after the training phase, the ECOSS Chinesespeaking OE resigned from the staff, and that population did not receive services on this program. While the original contract scope was defined to provide the supplemental services only on an "as needed" basis, depending on customer response to the audit, a very low response rate from the target population indicated the need for a more proactive approach to identifying qualified candidates. For that purpose, ECOSS OEs were charged with the broader mission of selecting candidates from "known" contacts within their individual communities. In some instances, these candidates were previous recipients of the King County Green Cleaning Kit information and materials, and considered somewhat aware and informed of household environmental management issues. Program Design To accomplish the various goals, the program was jointly defined/scoped by SPU and ECOSS to contain the following Tasks and deliverables: Task 1: Planning /Administrative Meetings The consultant will attend planning/administrative meetings with the SPU Project Manager to organize the initial outreach educator (OE) staff training, periodic training activities and the projected water audits. The consultant will also attend follow-up meetings to evaluate results and discuss new approaches. (These meetings will be scheduled to coincide with the monthly team meetings.) Deliverable: Meeting attendance Task 2: ECOSS Initial Staff Training Meetings ECOSS Environmental Educator Staff will participate in water audit training so that they can perform joint translated home water audits with SPU staff and solo home water audits. The exact nature of the training will be determined in Task 1 by the SPU Project Manager and the Consultant. The number of ECOSS staff trained will be determined by the number of non-english speaking customer requests for the water audits and the language needs of these customers. Deliverable: ECOSS Outreach Educator staff complete the training. Task 3: Joint Translated Home Water Audits with SPU Staff The consultant will conduct joint translated home water audits with SPU staff for customers needing language translation. At the water audits, the consultant will provide language translation and cross cultural capacity for interpreting environmental information in a culturally appropriate way. Audits are estimated to take up to two hours per household, plus travel time, and there will be one consultant staff per household. The actual number of audits will depend on customer demand. The consultant will provide assistance to SPU in scheduling the ECOSS staff for water audits. Deliverable: Water audit translation Task 4: Solo Home Water Audits The consultant will provide solo home water audits in two different capacities. First, solo home water audits will be performed in a backup capacity if SPU inspectors are not able to keep up with audit requests. Second, 4

5 solo home water audits will be performed as a result of OE staff making telephone contact with up to ten potential candidates in their populations per month. In this second capacity, the candidates will be selected for telephone contact based upon prior knowledge/experience with the resident and their household history. Home water audits are assumed to take up to 2.5 hours per household, plus travel time, and there will be one OE per household. To accomplish the solo home water audits, SPU will provide the consultant with the necessary checklist forms and hardware, i.e. low flow showerheads, faucet aerators, etc. During the solo home audit process, in either capacity, the consultant OE staff will complete the audit checklist forms, and provide the resident with information and hardware. The actual number of solo home water audits will depend on customer demand. The consultant will provide assistance to SPU in scheduling the OE staff for water audits. Deliverable: Water audit conducted; Copy of completed audit checklist to SPU Project Manager Task 5: Group Outreach Education Activities The Consultant OEs will provide outreach education to groups in their specific ethnic communities at various public and private locations and events, including churches, clubs, sporting events, health fairs, libraries, etc. During these activities, the OE will present information to the group and offer the appropriate water conservation hardware for attendees who are willing to write a brief summary of what was learned about reducing water usage, etc. At this time, interested attendees may also request a formal home water audit, and provide the relevant address and scheduling information. The requesting person will be included in the 10 households/month for the solo audits. Deliverable: Copy of activity list and copy of attendee s brief summary of information submitted to SPU Task 6: Water Audit Evaluation The Consultant will conduct a customer evaluation of 20% of the customers audited in Task 4. The purpose of the evaluation is to see if the audit resulted in decreased water consumption and decreased money spent on water. The evaluation format will be provided by SPU. The consultant will conduct the evaluation with customers via telephone. Deliverable: Completed written evaluation for each customer whose audit is evaluated Program Results Directly compared to the stated Program Tasks, the following results were achieved by ECOSS during the 2001/2002 program execution time period: Task 1: Planning/Administrative Meetings As scheduled, ECOSS administrative staff attended all planning/administrative meetings with the SPU Project Manager to organize staff training and the projected water audits. Task 2: ECOSS Staff Training Meetings ECOSS OE staff participated in several levels of water audit training to be able to successfully perform joint translated home water audits with SPU staff and solo home water audits. The different levels of training consisted of the following: a) formal classroom presentations by SPU staff, b) demonstration of typical field measurements and tests conducted by SPU staff c) an audit procedure rehearsal in a typical home conducted by SPU staff, and d) a practice audit at OE staff homes conducted by ECOSS trainees. As a result of this intensive training regime, the ECOSS OE staff was qualified to perform all home audits. 5

6 Task 3: Joint Translated Home Water Audits with SPU Staff Due to the high skills level achieved through the multi-faceted training regime, the ECOSS OE staff was able to conduct all of the home water audits on a solo basis and without the need for SPU staff to be present. Furthermore, SPU staff did not specifically request joint audits requiring language translations during the course of this program. Thus, since this task was not performed, there were no deliverables. Task 4: Solo Home Water Audits Although originally only intended to provide backup capacity in the event that SPU inspectors could not keep up with audit requests, solo home water audits conducted by ECOSS OE staff became the normal operating procedure for the duration of the program, following the extensive training phase. Details of this phase of the program are provided below for the different communities involved. Due to the unexpected resignation of the ECOSS Chinese outreach educator from the ECOSS staff following the training phase, the Chinese community was not provided services during this program. At program inception, 15 referrals were available as a direct result of the promotional material mailed out by SPU in July/August, Following the training period, the appropriate OEs were provided the contact information, and telephone contact was either attempted, or initiated. Of these original referrals, 5 participated in successful home audits. Subsequent to closing the referral file, the ECOSS OEs were given authorization to select interested candidates from their communities. During this solo home water audit program phase, recruitment was to be accomplished either by telephone contact, or at the end of presentation activities in a group setting. Combined with the 5 SPU referrals, the results are as follows: # of Spanish-language Home Audits 20 # of Vietnamese-language Home Audits- 67 # of Cambodian-language Home Audits 26 # of East African-language Home Audits 63 # of English-language Home Audits 19 Total # of solo home water audits = 195 Total # of residents affected by audit = 753 (based on reported # of occupants/residence) Information concerning how the home water audit altered the behavior of affected residents will be presented and discussed in the section addressing Task 6: Water Audit Evaluation Task 5: Group Outreach Education Activities ECOSS OEs provided outreach water conservation education to groups in their specific ethnic communities at various public and private locations and events in the greater Seattle area. Attachment 1 is a copy of the promotion and schedule that the ECOSS English-speaking OE coordinated and performed at the Rainier Community Center. During these kinds of activities, the OEs presented information to the group and offered to schedule a home visit and/or provide appropriate water conservation hardware for attendees. The groups that were successfully conducted in this way include: Vietnamese Groups 10 6

7 Spanish Groups 2 English Groups 6 Total # of Group Presentations = 18 Total # of participants = 270 Of the groups conducted, a copy of the "what I learned" information, turned in by members from one Englishlanguage group and one Spanish-language group, are attached as Attachment 2. In general, the participants responded to the question with feedback that indicated they had all learned practical information that could be immediately applied for conserving water and saving money. In addition to the individual home audits and group presentation, the English OE also visited one business and the management of one apartment building, with a successful outcome for both. Task 6: Water Audit Evaluation ECOSS OEs conducted, by telephone, a customer evaluation of 20% of the customers audited in Task 4. This was accomplished by using a script prepared by ECOSS and SPU staff to determine pertinent information concerning the efficacy of the home audits, including if the audit resulted in decreased water consumption and decreased money spent on water. The list of mandatory SPU questions is as follows: * Have you or anyone in your family noticed a difference in how you use water? * Have you noticed a difference in your water bills? * Are they lower or higher? * Did you or anyone in your family find this audit helpful? * How? * Have you or anyone in your family changed the way you consume water? The list of optional ECOSS questions, based upon previous focus groups conducted by the OEs is as follows: * What do you think was the most important benefit from the program and why? * Did you tell others about the program? And, why or why not? * What do you think would make the program work better for you community? * What do you think would make the program easier to share with others? * What do you think would give the program long lasting benefits to your community? * Would you be interested in participating in a program with long lasting benefits to your community? Based upon the 195 audits performed, the goal of evaluating 20% dictated that 39 would be contacted for the telephone evaluation/follow-up. The details of those contacted is listed below. 7

8 # of Spanish-language Telephone Evaluations 5 # of Vietnamese-language Telephone Evaluations - 14 # of Cambodian-language Telephone Evaluations 5 # of East African-language Telephone Evaluations 11 # of English-language Telephone Evaluations 4 Total # of Telephone Evaluations = 39 Summary of Evaluation Responses to SPU Questions A copy of the evaluation forms is attached to this document as Attachment 3. However, a brief summary of the responses to the SPU questions is as follows: * Have you or anyone in your family noticed a difference in how you use water? # Total Respondents 39 Response - Yes * Have you noticed a difference in your water bills? # Total Respondents 39 # Respondents receiving a bill 25 # Responses for noticing a difference - 23 * Are they lower or higher? # Total Respondents 25 Responses: Maybe Lower 3 : Lower 21 : About the same 1 * Did you or anyone in your family find this audit helpful? # Total Respondents 39 Responses - Yes * How? # Total Respondents 35 Responses: Saving $ - 2 : Saving $ & H2O 2 8

9 : Saving H2O 7 : Increased knowledge/education/information 19 : Understanding the bill 2 : Increased awareness 3 * Have you or anyone in your family changed the way you consume water? # Total Respondents 39 Responses: Yes 37 : Unsure 1 : No 1 ECOSS Optional Questions The ECOSS focus group questions available to ask those clients contacted for the evaluation were optional due to SPU budgetary constraints. The goal was to acquire answers to all questions within a 30 minute time period. Since the SPU questions were mandatory, they were asked first. Any time remaining of after receiving those answers could then be used to ask the ECOSS questions. Consequently, not all OEs were able to acquire that additional information. Details of the number of respondents for the populations queried with these questions is listed below. Spanish - 5 Vietnamese - 6 East African - 5 English 4 # Total Respondents - 20 Of the information acquired during this segment, the following are listed as noteworthy for highlighting in this report: * What do you think was the most important benefit from the program and why? "the little thing (aerators)." "All the little things you provide to us." "Family know how to read bill." "Sharing informations not only water but others." * Did you tell others about the program? And, why or why not? (85 % responded that they had told others ranging from family to friends to everyone they knew) * What do you think would make the program work better for you community? "The way it is done at this time. By our language and person from our country." "Advertise more so more people know" "More publicity. Brochures." 9

10 * What do you think would make the program easier to share with others? "Short story book in Spanish with nice pictures." "Sending notices that an agency like SPU or ECOSS can inspect for leaks and discuss water uses." "Maybe when you send water bill tell in a flyer about the program in different languages." "Train small group." "More outreach at church, stores, (?), supermarket." * What do you think would give the program long lasting benefits to your community? "If you put messages in Radio, TV or listen to this in schools." "Little messages or classes to our kids in schools." "A follow-up visit or phone call reminding them to check their water bill for possible savings." "To continue this program for a long time to educate my community." * Would you be interested in participating in a program with long lasting benefits to your community? (75% answered with a positive response) Comments/Additional Information Copies of program summary reports by OEs and El Planeta Club volunteers are attached as Attachment 4. A summary of their noteworthy comments is provided below. OE name Language Special Comments Jeanne Johnson English * Emphasizing the improvements in toilet technology helps * Linguistic "presentation" is important to convey the info. * Businesses take an interest in the aerators for saving $ * Encourage businesses to use signage re aerators, etc. * Provide home owners a list of discount plumbers * Include the kids in the home audit and info presentation * Helping community more better than saving $ for some Mayra Ayala Spanish * Her population appreciated the information and hardware * Aerators impressed people like they were "magic" * Linguistic "presentation" is important to convey the info. * Appealing to the heart/emotions as well as mind, works * Should include radio/tv messages in next program * Working with teens is different than with younger kids * For teens, include "fun" activities like field trips * When Teens are impressed, they will teach parents, etc. Tigist Negash East African * Her population had no prior awareness of water use info * H2O Leakage in and outside was new info re wasted $ * Her clients were pleased with lowered bills and noticed it * Hardware is key with her clients to get in the door * Flyers in their languages would be important next time * The # of gallons per day is more important than # flushes 10

11 * Improve the timers to stick better important to give * Providing kitchen aerator would be good * Lawn H2O content tool would be good * Her population had the most negative responses for participation in a program with long term community benefits Sambath Soung Cambodian * Her population had no awareness of effects of leaks * Some clients had H2O bills larger than their rents * Reusing H2O for garden applications was unknown * Her female clients don't trust female OEs for some tasks Viet Tran Vietnamese * His clients didn't pay bill, so didn't care about H2O use * Explaining importance of conserving changed attidudes * Most were interested in the information * Some were excited when shown how to leak-check * Water savings in the garden is important to his clients El Planeta Club Volunteers Spanish * The program raises awareness of the importance of H2O * "Water is life" is an important thread in the program * The provided hardware is as important as the info. Discussion While this pilot program was successful, there were some minor problems that were probably related to the change of scope. The original scope was for ECOSS OEs to accompany SPU inspectors to the homes of multicultural, non-english speaking residents and provide translation services during the audits. This scope was based on the expectation of a large number of respondents to the SPU mailer offering the free audits. Following the beginning of the program, it was realized that there were no new respondents after the initial 15 had made contact with SPU. The program scope was then modified to allow ECOSS OEs to recruit and perform outreach to selected candidates in their different communities. As a consequence, the number of persons contacted, and audits performed far exceeded the number expected solely based on the mailing. Due to the outreach quantity and other factors, the program deficiencies were as follows: 1) Insufficient supply of hardware to fulfill specific requests and for those audited, 2) Insufficient supply of literature, 3) Literature and other information in the different audit languages, 4) Insufficient supply of forms required during the audits The OE training course designed by SPU was adequate and provided the OE staff with a level of competency sufficient to give them the confidence required for solo audits. The only noteworthy problem in this regard was the perception of competency, and this was a cultural issue. In the Cambodian population, the OE was not permitted to remove meter covers if the husband/male in the home wasn't present. The Cambodian women in these homes did not believe that the ECOSS OE could perform this kind of task without damaging something, because she was a female. Apparently, in the Cambodian culture, only men were perceived as competent to perform such "technical" tasks. This was the only unpredicted cultural issue encountered during the program. 11

12 Conclusion and Recommendation From the viewpoint of ECOSS OE and administrative staff, the SPU Home Water Audit Program was a successful pilot program. The number of persons contacted in the various cultures, and provided information and/or hardware was sufficient for determining what did, or didn't work for changing water use behavior in the home. The feedback from client visits and presentations was overwhelmingly in favor of a continuation of the program, and some would participate on a voluntary basis to share their information for the benefit of the community. Additional evaluation information for long term tracking of behavior change can be accomplished by ECOSS OE staff in the future, if requested by SPU. Based on the feedback and level of community interest perceived throughout the pilot program, it is recommended that a new program be implemented by modifying the original design to include information learned from client responses and important staff feedback about ways that will improve the outcome. 12

13 ATTACHMENT 1 Example of OE Group Promotion and Schedule 13

14 ATTACHMENT 2 Summary Information from English and Spanish Presentations 14

15 ATTACHMENT 3 Evaluation Forms 15

16 ATTACHMENT 4 OE Reports and Volunteer Comments 16