Components of water literacy from the perspective of managers and journalists; Case study of flood 98 in Khuzestan

"Water literacy" is one of the ways to raise public awareness on water-related issues. Since crisis communication and risk communication can play a key role in crisis management, this study, while trying to introduce more "water literacy", has tried to address how local managers and journalists in Khuzestan Province dealt with the flood phenomenon of Khuzestan in 1398 as one of water- related threats.
This Study has been done by qualitative method and Grounded Theory. In this study, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 people (seven managers and seven local journalists of Khuzestan) and in three stages of initial coding, axial coding and selected coding.
The findings of this study showed that managers and journalists in Khuzestan, despite their relative orientation with the phenomenon of flood and its causes, in practice have not been able to implement water literacy criteria in facing this phenomenon, which is one of the water-related hazards. The central category in this research is "polar exposure to the dam", the group of managers show two types of exposure and the group of journalists show three types of exposure to the dam structure. This seems to be the most important difference between the two groups, which can be explained by the Reception theory. Findings of the research show that in order to manage water-related risks, in addition to raising water literacy of journalists and managers, socio-economic development of the region is also necessary.