Drinking Water Governance, Equity, and Health

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Disparities in drinking water quality pose harm to public health. Several tap water crises have demonstrated that fragmented access to safe water is a national issue. While water quality concerns are often framed as technological issues, the relevance of water governance is increasingly apparent. This project illuminates the governance failures that cause inequities in drinking water and public health. An interdisciplinary team of scientists combines expertise in spatial statistics, epidemiology, and community-based research to understand how differences in accountability and information can cause disparate exposure to water contamination. Datasets and publications generated by this project have the potential to reveal new governance solutions and more equitable water policies. The dissemination plan allows knowledge sharing with the public, water system managers, environmental justice groups, and policymakers. In addition, the project advances undergraduate training at a minority-serving institution through problem-based research opportunities.This study contributes to understanding how access to safe water is shaped by accountability and information failures. Inadequate accountability takes the form of uncontested water board elections and limited practices at water systems to build community trust. Elections create incentives for officials to serve public interests; yet, a majority of water systems fail to hold regular elections. Besides inadequate accountability, information failures are also common. The full scope of water challenges is not publicly known, due to a substantial number of water quality violations that are undeclared or unreported. Uninformed communities can face health consequences. Statistical models of waterborne disease burdens examine how incomplete information can create health disparities. The project uses spatial statistics to identify linkages between electoral accountability and water quality; in addition, community-based focus groups and interviews document water systems’ practices for public participation and customer trust in tap water. Overall, the project analyzes and generates data to document how governance issues influence drinking water quality and public health. Notably, statistical approaches are combined with the lived experiences of communities, allowing improved modeling to reveal promising policies to expand safe water access.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.