Health
According to the Centers for Disease Control, global access to safe water, adequate sanitation, and proper hygiene education can reduce illness and death from disease, leading to improved health, poverty reduction, and socio-economic development. Resources available in this sub-theme include guidance on installation of cost-effective safe water supply systems and latrines, summaries of health improvements following WASH projects, and other resources that can help to improve the understanding of the health implications of WASH projects.
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Health Resources
Inequalities in Public Water Arsenic Concentrations in Counties and Community Water Systems across the United States
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December 9, 2020In the United States, nationwide estimates of public drinking water arsenic exposure are not readily available. Our objective was to characterize potential inequalities in CWS arsenic exposure over time and across sociodemographic subgroups.Read more
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North AmericaUnited StatesWater and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impacts on Municipal Water Demand
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June 25, 2021Pacific Institute
Covid-19 has had large early impacts on municipal water demands in the United States. This article states that stay-at-home orders have increased water demands for residential use but also decreased demands for industrial and commercial activities, leading to new imbalances in water distribution...Read more
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United StatesThe Impacts of the Pandemic Remain for Small Water Systems and Customers In-Debt
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June 25, 2021Pacific Institute
Covid-19 has had persistent, wide-ranging impacts on small community water systems. Small community water systems (SCWS) serve millions around the United States in urban, rural, and growing communities. The pandemic poses serious challenges to the operational capacity and financial stability of...Read more
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United StatesWatered Down Justice
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July 2, 2021Safe drinking water is a pillar in good water policy, but many communities of color face barriers that lead to a chronic lack of water access. Serious disinvestments in water infrastructure, which are fueled by systemic racism, have made significant impacts on majority-black cities like Newark, New...Read more
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United StatesWater Justice
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July 9, 2021Waters in urban and rural areas can be contaminated from a variety of sources, including industrial discharges, automobiles, wastewater, and agricultural use. Polluted water can cause environmental health hazards such as poor water quality and unsafe waters for recreation. Water utilities play a...Read more
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United StatesFlint Water Crisis: Everything You Need to Know
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July 9, 2021Natural Resources Defense Council
Flint, Michigan’s experience with government mismanagement and pollution has propelled it to the forefront of many environmental justice conversations. Flint, a majority black city north of Detroit, experienced dangerous decreases in water quality after policymakers took the city’s water system off...Read more
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United StatesThe blueprint of disaster: COVID-19, the Flint water crisis, and unequal ecological impacts
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July 9, 2021COVID-19 is unique in the scope of its effects on morbidity and mortality. However, the factors contributing to its disparate racial and socioeconomic effects are part of a continuous history of oppressive social policy. This history is characterized by institutionally generated inequalities forged...Read more
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United StatesWhat Can Communities Do About Lead in Drinking Water?
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July 13, 2021An estimated 6 million leaded service lines(link is external) deliver drinking water to households across the United States, and when these lines leach lead into drinking water, it poses a serious public health problem. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, states and cities are working to issue...Read more
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United StatesEnvironmental justice and drinking water quality: are there socioeconomic disparities in nitrate levels in U.S. drinking water?
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July 13, 2021Low-income and minority communities often face disproportionately high pollutant exposures. The lead crisis in Flint, Michigan, has sparked concern about broader socioeconomic disparities in exposures to drinking water contaminants. Nitrate is commonly found in drinking water, especially in...Read more
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United StatesMaking the Invisible Visible: Results of a Community-Led Health Survey Following PFAS Contamination of Drinking Water in Merrimack, New Hampshire
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July 13, 2021In March 2016, citizens of Merrimack, New Hampshire, learned that their public water supply was contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). A subsequent state-led investigation revealed widespread contamination of both public and private well water with PFOA and several related chemicals,...Read more
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