2nd National Extension Nat Res Conference-Abstract 25

Susan W. Williams and Arthur G. Hornsby, University of Florida, P.O. Box 110290, Gainesville, FL 32611-0290; 352.392.1951; sww@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu

In 1991 the U.S. Congress defined literacy as ?an individual?s ability to read, write and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one?s goals, and develop one?s knowledge and potential.? To find out what percentage of the country?s population is literate, Congress funded a national survey in 1991. Survey results show that several states have 20-30% or greater of their populations that are not literate according to Congress? definition. In Florida, 50 counties have 20-30% or greater of their populations that are not literate (State of Literacy in America, National Institute of Literacy 1998).

Many of these counties are rural, which means a lot of the residents are probably on wells and septic systems. Also, many of them are Hispanic. These people need easily understandable information in English and Spanish on how to protect their wells from pollution; however, the Florida Extension Service had none. The Keep Your Well Water Clean (KYWWC) materials fill these needs. A 2½-year U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Section 391 Non-point Source Pollution grant funded the project.

KYWWC demonstrates that it is possible to create understandable materials on complex well-protection topics for farm and non-farm adult poor readers and non-readers. Materials include: (1) 14 one-page, full-color documents in English and Spanish written on a 2nd-3rd-grade reading level; (2) 14 English and 14 Spanish videos on the same topics as the documents; and (3) a Presenter?s Guide in English that has background information on the topics for extension agents and others who give out the documents and show the videos.

The documents are primarily for adult poor readers; the videos are primarily for adults who cannot read at all. However, because both the documents and videos are short and to the point, good readers and elementary-school students can benefit from them, too. The videos also complement the documents and can help poor readers understand them.

The documents, videos and presenter?s guide cover: checking the well casing, well-water testing, septic-system maintenance, septic-system warning signs, poisons that kill bugs and plants, poisons that can hurt you, gas and oil (motor vehicles and machinery), home plant food, pet-waste disposal, filling a pesticide spray tank, plastic pesticide container recycling, gas and oil storage tanks, farm plant food and farm-animal waste disposal.

To help insure their usefulness, all the English and Spanish documents, and 2 English and Spanish videos were pretested with the target audiences. Based on the pretesting, several changes were made in the documents and the videos to make them more understandable to the target audiences.