2 Million Americans Lacking Basic Plumbing: The Crisis of Clean Water Access in the U.S.
Matthew Russell
The recent derailment of a train loaded with toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, is just one of many environmental catastrophes that are contributing to the growing concern about the impact on the health of U.S. residents and the country's surface, ground, and well water. The release and burn of vinyl chloride, a known cancer-causing compound, killed thousands of fish in nearby streams, making it one of many places in the United States facing major threats to clean water, News 5 Cleveland reports.
In October 2022, the "Imagine a Day Without Water" campaign highlighted the need to stand with Americans who lack adequate drinking water, sanitation, or both. Shockingly, over 2 million people lack basic indoor plumbing in one of the wealthiest countries on earth.
Photo: The lack of access to clean drinking water, sanitary bathrooms, and treated wastewater is an ongoing emergency for many parts of the U.S. In rural and urban communities throughout the country, water tainted by pollutants, woefully inadequate sewage treatment, and a lack of restrooms (or plumbing at all) have laid bare the legacy of neglect.
As TIME reports, The problem is particularly acute in rural areas, where many residents lack means of wastewater treatment. In Lowndes County, Alabama, septic systems are too expensive and often fail in the impervious clay soil, leaving residents with little choice but to adapt PVC pipes to drain sewage into cesspools outside, CBS News reports. Shockingly, researchers found that over one-third of 55 stool samples collected from county residents tested positive for hookworms, a parasite typically associated with poor sanitation in developing countries.
Photo: Adobe Stock / ECO LENSThe lack of access to clean drinking water, sanitary bathrooms, and treated wastewater is an ongoing emergency for many parts of the U.S.
Communities across the United States are facing major threats to their clean water supply. In Mississippi, historic flooding caused an old water treatment plant to fail, leaving residents without access to safe drinking water for weeks. In Michigan, the cities of Flint and Benton Harbor have faced severe lead contamination due to aging lead pipes leaching toxic contaminants into the water supply. West Baltimore has also experienced a water crisis due to E. coli contamination, which was blamed on aging water treatment infrastructure, Inside Climate News reports.
According to a 2021 analysis, nearly half a million U.S. households do not have complete plumbing, and many more are living in areas with unclean water. These issues disproportionately affect indigenous, less educated, older, and poorer communities, which continue to fall through the cracks.
Photo: Adobe Stock / ShuttershudderCommunities across the United States are facing major threats to their clean water supply.
Without prompt and effective action, the gaps in the U.S. water system will continue to widen. The 2021 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, released by the American Society of Civil Engineering, assigned a dismal D+ grade to the country's more than 16,000 wastewater treatment plants, a significant fraction of which have reached or exceeded their design capacities. The U.S. drinking water infrastructure earned only a marginally better rating, with a C-grade. It is imperative that steps are taken to address these issues and ensure access to safe and clean water for all communities in the United States.
The clean water crisis in the United States is not only an issue of health but of environmental justice. As decades of underfunding in water infrastructure continue, the cost of inaction grows. The American Society of Civil Engineering highlights the growing investment gap as local and state investment falters, with federal action decreasing its share of capital costs from 60% in 1977 to less than 10% in 2017.
Photo: Adobe Stock / SkyLineThe clean water crisis in the United States is not only an issue of health but of environmental justice.
This neglect could not come at a worse time.
Extreme weather events, worsened by global warming, are exacerbating infrastructure failures. And the cost of failing to update the country’s aging and deteriorating drinking water and wastewater infrastructure could lead to trillions lost in preventable diseases, higher medical costs, lost productivity, and environmental pollution, The Hill reports.
Photo: Adobe Stock / Rechitan SorinThe recent derailment of a train loaded with toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, has contributed to a growing concern about the safety of well water in the U.S.
There is also a disproportionate impact of environmental racism on communities of color. These communities require sustained attention, investment, and action to reverse the decades of damage.
Federal action is beginning to address the issue. According to the Mississippi Free Press, nearly $800 million in federal funds have been earmarked for water projects in Jackson. The Closing America’s Wastewater Access Gap Community Initiative, piloted in Lowndes County, will tackle ten other underserved communities where residents lack basic wastewater management. The federal Inflation Reduction Act also provided $550 million for water systems in disadvantaged communities, Waterworld reports.
Photo: According to the American Public Health Association, projects aimed at improving public and environmental health could also redistribute wealth back to those same communities. Resource recovery facilities, for example, prevent pollution from treated liquid waste and extract valuable resources. Biogas, electricity, pure water, charcoal-like biochar, nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, and soil amendments can all be recovered, creating new sources of local wealth, Forbes reports.
The fact is, access to water and sanitation are fundamental human rights. Join is in petitioning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to improve wastewater management and water systems in the U.S. and help Americans thrive!
