U.S. Domestic Resources
Welcome to the H2infO U.S. Domestic Resources Page. On this page you will find U.S. Water Partnership member resources aimed at helping domestic stakeholders address the unique water challenges of the United States.
U.S. Domestic Resources
What 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 StatesBalancing Multiple Goals at the Local Level: Water Quality, Water Equity, and Water Conservation
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July 13, 2021While there is a nationwide, overarching federal structure that pursues the goal of clean water, most efforts to provide clean water are seen at the local level. This paper looks at how local governments work to provide clean and safe water supplies while balancing the demands of fairness, justice...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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United StatesApplying a Cumulative Risk Framework to Drinking Water Assessment: A Commentary
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July 13, 2021The health risks of drinking water contaminants and the economic benefits of drinking water standards are typically assessed one chemical at a time, an approach that misses the health impacts of co-occurring contaminants in drinking water. In contrast, a cumulative risk framework has become common...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 StatesFlooding Hazard and Vulnerability. An Interdisciplinary Experimental Approach for the Study of the 2016 West Virginia Floods
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July 9, 2021The hydrosocial (HS) and social-hydro (SH) frameworks each attempt to understand the complexity of water and society, but they have emerged from historically disparate fields with distinctly different goals as well as methodological and epistemological standpoints. This paper encapsulates the...Read more
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United StatesThe Fight for Water Justice
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July 9, 2021Environmental racism has plagued many communities in the United States for centuries, but it is especially prevalent when it comes to water infrastructure. Many marginalized regions struggle to obtain reliable and clean water sources. On this episode of A Word, host Jason Johnson discusses how the...Read more
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United StatesEnvironmental injustice and flood risk: A conceptual model and case comparison of metropolitan Miami and Houston, USA
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July 9, 2021This article outlines a conceptual model for environmental justice (EJ) studies of flood risk in the Miami, Florida, and Houston, Texas. Pre-flood EJ studies have found that socially-advantaged people experience the highest residential exposure to flood risks. This conceptual model focuses on (1)...Read more
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United StatesImpacts of Climate Change on Disadvantaged Communities: The Case of Lincoln Creek and Northern Portions of the 30th Street Corridor in Milwaukee
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July 9, 2021While considering water-related impacts of climate change on disadvantaged communities, researchers often study coastal marine environments for social and environmental injustices. Coastal disasters and systemic failures of disaster response, such as with Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, have led...Read more
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United States