Fifteen Year Evolution in Implementing Policy through Education and Marketing: A Case Study of a Water District Mandated Stormwater and Sanitary Flow Separation Program

Abstract

This investigation sought to use descriptive case study methodology to empirically evaluate how the educational methods and approach related to a policy mandated program have evolved over a 15 year period. The program of interest was implemented to facilitate compliance with a water district mandated reduction in stormwater entering the sanitary sewer system, reduce overflows that violate the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA).Comparative analysis was conducted on 21 examples of program materials developed for public outreach and education, using recent theoretical and empirical models of pro-environmental behavior (PEB). An included literature review, conducted to provide external validity to the research, summarizes the evolution of a 40-year history of environmental education (EE) models and theory. Initiated with passage in 1970 of both the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the first National Environmental Education Act (NEEA), EE models and theory have changed significantly in four decades. This study chose one relatively new theoretical model (the Reasonable Person Model) and one recent empirical meta-analysis model (MASEM) to identify demonstrated variables in PEB response. The variables of each model were then operationalized in order to allow for a comparative analysis with the 21 specific EE program examples. Data analysis indicated that the program examples, as they evolved over time, consistently addressed a greater diversity of the operational variables identified, and in noticeably more instances. This supported the study’s original proposition, predicting that the products of a successful EE program, refined over time to address audience motivation and information need related to specific PEBs would correspond with the PEB models chosen for the study.