The United States is deemed a ‘first world country’, yet a new report has revealed it is suffering from a developing world issue.
Experts have found more than two million Americans do not have access to running water, basic indoor plumbing or sanitation services.
The report revealed that race and poverty play key roles in water access – Native Americans and 19 times more likely to be without, while black and Latino households are twice as likely than their white counterparts.
Many of the water systems are still following the dated infrastructures that were developed the basis of systemic racism, thus cutting off access to areas with minorities.
The report comes from the nonprofits DigDeep and the US Water Alliance, which went beyond just Census data in order to investigate the country’s water crisis.
Experts have found more than two million Americans do not have access to running water, basic indoor plumbing or sanitation services. The report revealed that race and poverty play key roles in water access – Native Americans and 19 times more likely to be without
‘Access to clean, reliable running water and safe sanitation are baseline conditions for health, prosperity, and well-being,’ DigDeep CEO George McGraw and US Water Alliance CEO Radhika Fox said in a statement.
‘However, they remain out of reach for some of the most vulnerable people in the United States.’
The data stems from a two-year study that discovered six water crisis ‘hotposts’ in the US, which include the Central Valley of California, areas of Texas, rural counties in Mississippi and Alabama, Appalachian West Virginia, the ‘four corners’ of the Southwest and Puerto Rico.
With over two million Americans without running water, this means that some 1.4 million homes do not have a shower, toilet or sink.
The data stems from a two-year study that discovered six water crisis ‘hotposts’ in the US, which include the Central Valley of California, areas of Texas, rural counties in Mississippi and Alabama, Appalachian West Virginia, the ‘four corners’ of the Southwest and Puerto Rico
The team found that race was the biggest predictor, as Native Americans, blacks and Latinos were found to suffer the most.
Approximately 58 out of every 1,000 Native American households were found to be without complete plumbing, compared to three out of every 1,000 white households.
The report also found that for 0.5 percent of African-Americans households lacked complete plumbing, nearly twice as many as white homes.
The report notes that this issue is a result of the previous infrastructure that was developed on the basis of systemic racism.
The report also found that for 0.5 percent of African-Americans households lacked complete plumbing, nearly twice as many as white homes
‘For example, in the 1960s, Roanoke, VA would not extend water lines to black neighborhoods,’ the report reads.
‘In the early 1900s, Hispanic communities were discouraged from incorporating, which excluded them from water and sanitation initiatives from the 1950s on.’
Also included are 250,000 people in Puerto Rico and 553,000 homeless individuals in the U.S. who may lack water and sanitation access altogether.
In addition to race, the team discovered that economic status also played a key role in water access.
‘For both African-American and Latinx households, higher income and educational attainment are positively correlated with access to complete plumbing,’ the team wrote.
‘Our analysis illustrates a correlation of complete plumbing access with household income, educational attainment (which has been shown to correlate to poverty), and unemployment rates. The analysis found that census tracts with higher average household income had lower percentages of households lacking access to complete plumbing.’
The analysis also found that higher percentages of residents without high school diplomas are correlated with lower levels of complete plumbing access, regardless of race.
However, there is a larger picture that needs to be addressed as well – 785 million people in the world lack access to safe water and two billion do not have access to a proper toilet, according to global nonprofit Water.org.
And climate change is predicted to increase these numbers over the next few decades.
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Millions of Americans may be drinking water contaminated with toxic chemicals linked to behavioral problems, birth defects, cancer, high cholesterol levels and infertility, a new report finds.
Researchers from the Environmental Working Group and Northeastern University found 610 sources in 43 states that contained unsafe levels of man-made chemicals in water known as PFAS chemicals.
These locations include public water systems, military bases, airports and even firefighter training sites and affect as many as 19 million Americans.
A new report as found that 610 locations in 43 US states (map, above) contain unsafe levels of PFAS chemicals, which have been linked to birth defects and cancer
The Great Lake State has been battling a water contamination crisis in Flint since 2014 after the drinking water source was changed from Lake Huron and the Detroit River to the Flint River, which contained high levels of lead.
But PFAS has also been a burden. Residents of two communities in Kalamazoo County were given bottled water last year after tests showed high levels of the chemicals in drinking water, reported Think Progress.
Rounding out the top three were California with 47 and New Jersey with 43 sites.
The map also showed that roughly 20 percent of the sites with unsafe levels were military bases.
