Water Less Safe In Communities Of Color, Including Newark: Report

NEWARK, NJ — No one should have to wonder about the safety of their water every time they turn on their tap. But in many cities across the U.S. – including Newark and Flint – communities of color have been suffering a history of discrimination when it comes to water contamination, a coalition of environmental advocacy groups says.

On Tuesday, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Coming Clean, and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance (EJHA) released a report titled “Watered Down Justice,” which analyzes data from the U.S. EPA for about 50,000 active water systems in the U.S.

According to researchers, the report confirms there is “unequal access to safe drinking water” for people of color and low-income residents across the nation. Read the full study and learn about its methodology.

Some key findings include:

• From June 1, 2016, to May 31, 2019, there were more than 170,000 violations of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act
• Drinking water systems that constantly violated the law for years were 40 percent more likely to occur in places with higher percentages of residents who were people of color
• Nearly 130 million people in the U.S. got their drinking water from systems that violated federal law during the time period reviewed in the report

Yvette Jordan, of NEW Caucus, a group of public school teachers who previously sued the City of Newark over its drinking water, said local residents continue to be besieged with untenable living conditions, poverty and a myriad of health concerns exacerbated by drinking water contaminated with lead.

“At its core, environmental justice hits the black and brown community in ways that are not seen or felt immediately,” Jordan said. “As a public school teacher, I see the effects of this every day. More importantly, I witness the apathy and naivete from my students because of a lack of education regarding environmental justice.”

• See related article: Filters Working In Newark; Bottled Water Will Continue
• See related article: Court Rules Against Newark Activists In Battle Over Bottled Water
• See related article: Protest For Clean Water Ignites Outside MTV Awards In Newark

Large cities aren’t the only places with water contamination, the study claims. Small systems – those that serve less than 3,300 people – were responsible for more than 80 percent of all violations.

“As a scientist, I was surprised to find that race had the strongest relationship to the length of time people had to live with drinking water violations,” said Kristi Pullen Fedinick, director of science and data at the NRDC. “But as a black woman, I wasn’t surprised at all.”

Fedinick said it’s a travesty that the nation's drinking water laws doesn’t protect everyone equally.

“No one should have to wonder about the safety of their water every time they turn on their tap,” she said.

Researchers offered several recommendations to help solve the problem:

• Improve the national law to measurably increase access to safe drinking water for communities of color, starting by identifying, engaging and funding water infrastructure projects
• Prevent water contamination, by effectively controlling industrial and agribusiness discharges and spills and by expanding the list of chemicals and substances regulated under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water law
• Enforce the law to ensure safe drinking water for all

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