Community-Level Analysis of Drinking Water Data Highlights the Importance of Drinking Water Metrics for the State, Federal Environmental Health Justice Priorities in the United States

Uloma Igara Uche, Sydney Evans, Soren Rundquist, Chris Campbell and Olga V. Naidenko
Additional contact information
Uloma Igara Uche: Environmental Working Group, 1250 I Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005, USA
Sydney Evans: Environmental Working Group, 1250 I Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005, USA
Soren Rundquist: Environmental Working Group, 111 Third Avenue South, Suite 240, Minneapolis, MN 55401, USA
Chris Campbell: Environmental Working Group, 1250 I Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005, USA
Olga V. Naidenko: Environmental Working Group, 1250 I Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 19, 1-22

Abstract: Research studies analyzing the geospatial distribution of air pollution and other types of environmental contamination documented the persistence of environmental health disparities between communities. Due to the shortage of publicly available data, only limited research has been published on the geospatial distribution of drinking water pollution. Here we present a framework for the joint consideration of community-level drinking water data and demographic data. Our analysis builds on a comprehensive data set of drinking water contaminant occurrence for the United States for 2014–2019 and the American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2015–2019) from the U.S. Census Bureau. Focusing on the U.S. states of California and Texas for which geospatial data on community water system service boundaries are publicly available, we examine cumulative cancer risk for water served by community water systems of different sizes relative to demographic characteristics for the populations served by these water systems. In both California and Texas, greater cumulative cancer risk was observed for water systems serving communities with a higher percentage of Hispanic/Latino and Black/African American community members. This investigation demonstrates that it is both practical and essential to incorporate and expand the drinking water data metrics in the analysis of environmental pollution and environmental health. The framework presented here can support the development of public policies to advance environmental health justice priorities on state and federal levels in the U.S.

Keywords: drinking water; cumulative cancer risk; environmental health; environmental justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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