Divided Perception of Drinking Water Safety: Another Manifestation of America’s Racial Gap

Apul, Onur G.; Grissom, Rianna; Damali, Uzay; Toof, Robin

doi:10.1021/acsestwater.0c00022

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The majority of US states do not have CWS service boundaries publicly available, and the limitations of available water quality data are well known [32]. Understanding potential relationships between demographics and home water quality is an urgent need: a recent national survey indicated that the majority of Black Americans do not believe their drinking water is safe to consume [36]. In this study, the demonstration of significant statistical differences based on demographics even given limitations that potentially do not account for intentional exclusion from service is quite notable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Approximating Community Water System Service Areas to Explore the Demographics of SDWA Compliance in Virginia

Marcillo

Krometis

2021

IJERPH

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Although the United States Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) theoretically ensures drinking water quality, recent studies have questioned the reliability and equity associated with community water system (CWS) service. This study aimed to identify SDWA violation differences (i.e., monitoring and reporting (MR) and health-based (HB)) between Virginia CWSs given associated service demographics, rurality, and system characteristics. A novel geospatial methodology delineated CWS service areas at the zip code scale to connect 2000 US Census demographics with 2006–2016 SDWA violations, with significant associations determined via negative binomial regression. The proportion of Black Americans within a service area was positively associated with the likelihood of HB violations. This effort supports the need for further investigation of racial and socioeconomic disparities in access to safe drinking water within the United States in particular and offers a geospatial strategy to explore demographics in other settings where data on infrastructure extents are limited. Further interdisciplinary efforts at multiple scales are necessary to identify the entwined causes for differential risks in adverse drinking water quality exposures and would be substantially strengthened by the mapping of official CWS service boundaries.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Approximating Community Water System Service Areas to Explore the Demographics of SDWA Compliance in Virginia

Marcillo

Krometis

2021

IJERPH

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“…Further, in countries with more than 95% basic drinking water service coverage, there was considerable diversity in anticipated harm, supporting the notion that perceived risks are strongly in uenced by factors other than objective water quality 20 . These data suggest that addressing the global water crisis will require targeted interventions that address inequalities in access to safe drinking water and promote greater trust through improvements in water governance, knowledge dissemination, and relationship building [36][37][38] . For example, we found inequalities across country income levels and sociodemographic characteristics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Widespread global concern over harm from drinking water

Young¹,

Miller

Staddon

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Poor drinking water quality is a global crisis that affects billions of individuals. Understanding who is most impacted is necessary to develop programs that ensure sustainable, reliable, and resilient access to safe water. But current water indicators do not capture people’s experienced and anticipated harm from drinking water, which means we have had limited understanding of how individuals conceptualize, navigate, and are affected by their water environment. Here, we analyzed data from nationally representative surveys undertaken in 142 countries in which people reported their recent experiences and future expectations of harm from drinking water. Prevalence of reported harm from drinking water in the prior two years was 14.5% (range: 0.8%–54.3%). More than half of the world’s population (54.4%) anticipated that they would experience serious harm from their drinking water in the next two years. Greater public sector corruption was associated with greater anticipated harm from drinking water, even when adjusting for indicators of water infrastructure and economic development. Disparities in anticipated harm across countries and by gender and household location indicate that targeted policies are required to address risk perceptions, equitably improve access to safe drinking water, and increase trust in institutions that supply and regulate water services. The addition of experiential survey data to global data collection efforts will complement objective water quality data and provide novel insights about which strategies will most effectively advance progress toward safe drinking water for all.

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“…The standards for astronauts are high 64 , but the same has not always been true of the standards for ordinary civilians on Earth, especially those in disenfranchised communities. This history of scientist-led discrimination has led to a mistrust of science and engineering within these communities 65,66 . Technology is crucial for addressing climate change, but it must be safe, effective and equitably distributed.…”

Section: Societal Benefits Of Sbementioning

confidence: 99%

Space bioprocess engineering as a potential catalyst for sustainability

Vengerova,

Lipsky,

Hutchinson

et al. 2024

Nat Sustain

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Divided Perception of Drinking Water Safety: Another Manifestation of America’s Racial Gap

Cited by 8 publications

References 2 publications

Approximating Community Water System Service Areas to Explore the Demographics of SDWA Compliance in Virginia

Approximating Community Water System Service Areas to Explore the Demographics of SDWA Compliance in Virginia

Widespread global concern over harm from drinking water

Space bioprocess engineering as a potential catalyst for sustainability

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