In order to understand residents' experiences during the contamination and their thoughts and feelings on the event, the members of the Brown University class Environmental Studies 126: Public Perceptions of the Environment, under the supervision of Professor Christina Zarcadoolas, designed and implemented an in-depth interview study of residents.

The goals were to investigate how residents perceived and responded to the water contamination event and to capture the voices and experiences of Pascoag residents, with particular emphasis on residents' information sources, concerns, behavior modifications, satisfaction with government officials, perceptions of their community, and thoughts toward the future.

The interview consisted of a series of 34 questions. Questions were divided into the following five categories: Background/demographics; History of Events; Personal Response; Officials' Response; The Future. A total of 26 students, both undergraduate and graduate, conducted approximately four interviews each, for a total of 100 interviews. Of these, 72 were in-person interviews and 18 were telephone interviews. Whenever possible, interviews were audiotaped, and the average interview lasted approximately forty minutes. The in-person interviews were conducted in residential homes, the Pascoag firehouse, and George's Pizza and Pub in downtown Pascoag. These interviews were conducted from April 12 through May 1, 2002.

To learn more about residents' perceptions and experiences, choose one of the links on the top left of the page.