Blanchard, R. DeniseBartell, Karen Hulene2023-11-092023-11-092007-05Barell, K.H. (2007). Communicating risk to an at-risk population concerning future water shortage: focusing on senders and receivers of low-key warning messages in South-Central Texas (Unpublished dissertation). Texas State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, Texas.https://hdl.handle.net/10877/17158The primary goals of this research were to assess and model the process of risk communication among the residents of south-central Texas who are at-risk from future, large-scale water shortages. This research investigated the degree to which water-related agencies and organizations within the south-central Texas region have developed and disseminated warning and educational information regarding water issues to the general public and assessed the extent to which individuals have responded to low-key, nonemergency messages of potential risk. This research examined and identified factors that were statistically significant to the process of communicating risk in regard to future water shortages, and found that the majority of respondents (94.9%) reported having heard warning messages, and 93.4% of the participants had responded to the messages to conserve water by minimizing the amount of water that they used.Text534 pages1 file (.pdf)enwater consumptionwaterrisk communicationplanningsupplyDissertation