Environmental Justice: Righting the Water Wrongs

[mahatmakanejeeves]

I was sent to another article in Engineering News-Record, one about a work-related incident. When I clicked on the main page, this came up. This is part of Engineering News-Record's "Engineering Justice" series.

Environmental Justice: Righting the Water Wrongs

Water infrastructure disproportionately shortchanges people of color and low-income neighborhoods

June 10, 2021
Pam Radtke Russell
KEYWORDS drinking water / Environmental Justice

Growing up on a Navajo reservation in Arizona, Jay Yazzie, now a senior environmental engineer at Brown and Caldwell, did not have running water in his home. To get its water supply, the family would take a 55-gallon drum to a livestock well or to a distribution point to obtain potable water for everyday use. He was 10 when his family was finally hooked up to a reliable supply.

Today, some 30 years later, things have not improved much, if at all, on most reservations, he says. “In some places it got better, but in others it’s gotten worse,” says Yazzie, who works occasionally on tribal projects. For every home that had a water distribution system installed, another may find its well dried up or contaminated by toxic chemicals. Within the Navajo Nation, only one in three homes has running water, while in the Hopi Nation, the tribe estimates 75% have water tainted with arsenic.

While there is a glaring need for safe, clean drinking water for Native Americans, the inequities of U.S. water systems are seen in every area of the country. More than 2 million Americans live without running water, indoor plumbing or sewerage, according to a 2019 report from the U.S. Water Alliance, a nonprofit that focuses on getting the U.S. to understand the value of water, and DigDeep, a nonprofit that focuses on access to water as a human right.

“We treat water like an amenity, instead of a vital necessity,” said EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council in a 2019 report. “Providing water and sewage only to those who can afford to live in an area with an expensive functioning infrastructure sends the message to neglected communities that their access to clean water and sanitation is a luxury. Those who suffer greatest … are the most vulnerable, including those who are low-income and communities of color.”

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[lapfog_1]

1. I grew up in rural Kansas

we didn't have a water well, we had an underground cistern, a water truck would fill the cistern about once ever month or so (one of my jobs was to measure the water level of the cistern every few days).

we only had running water if we had electricity because the pump to move the water to the house was electric.

I remember vividly one winter where we were snowed in for 2 weeks with no electricity, no heat other than the fireplace, and no running water.

to go to the bathroom, you stepped outside with a couple of buckets, scooped up the snow, melted it by the fireplace in the living room, and then ran to the very cold bathroom to dump the water in the tank for 1 flush. Obviously for us boys, outside on the south side of the house (out of the wind) was the place to pee.

cooking was even more on an adventure.