Environmental justice implications of arsenic contamination in California's San Joaquin Valley: a cross-sectional, cluster-design examining exposure and compliance in community drinking water systems.
Environmental justice implications of arsenic contamination in California's San Joaquin Valley: a cross-sectional, cluster-design examining exposure and compliance in community drinking water systems.
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DOI：
10.1186/1476-069x-11-84
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发表时间：
2012-11-14
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Ray I
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Balazs CL;Morello-Frosch R;Hubbard AE;Ray I
很少有环境正义的研究审查饮用水污染的不公平。那些这样做的研究通常分析暴露/伤害的差异或环境政策的不公平执行。美国环保署2001年修订的砷规则将饮用水中砷的标准从50 μg/L提高到10 μg/L，这为分析环境正义的两个方面提供了机会。我们假设，社区供水系统（CWS）服务于少数民族居民或社会经济地位较低（SES）的居民比例较高，饮用水砷含量较高，不符合修订后的标准的几率较高。使用水质采样数据的砷和最大污染物水平（MCL）违反数据464 CWS积极运作，从2005年至2007年在加州的圣华金河谷，我们运行二元检验和线性回归模型。较高的住房拥有率与较低的砷水平相关（系数= −0.27 μg As/L，95%（CI），-0.5，-0.05）。在较小的系统中，这种关系更强（系数=-0.43，CI，-0.84，-0.03）。住房拥有率较高的CWS违反MCL的几率较低（OR，0.33; 95%CI，0.16，0.67）;那些为少数族裔比例较高的人提供服务的CWS违反MCL的几率较高（OR，2.6; 95%CI，1.2，5.4）。我们发现，更高的砷含量和更高的几率收到MCL违反是最常见的CWS服务主要是社会经济弱势群体。我们的研究结果表明，低SES居民比例较高的社区不仅面临不成比例的砷暴露，而且面临不平等的MCL合规挑战。
Few studies of environmental justice examine inequities in drinking water contamination. Those studies that have done so usually analyze either disparities in exposure/harm or inequitable implementation of environmental policies. The US EPA’s 2001 Revised Arsenic Rule, which tightened the drinking water standard for arsenic from 50 μg/L to 10 μg/L, offers an opportunity to analyze both aspects of environmental justice. We hypothesized that Community Water Systems (CWSs) serving a higher proportion of minority residents or residents of lower socioeconomic status (SES) have higher drinking water arsenic levels and higher odds of non-compliance with the revised standard. Using water quality sampling data for arsenic and maximum contaminant level (MCL) violation data for 464 CWSs actively operating from 2005–2007 in California’s San Joaquin Valley we ran bivariate tests and linear regression models. Higher home ownership rate was associated with lower arsenic levels (ß-coefficient= −0.27 μg As/L, 95% (CI), -0.5, -0.05). This relationship was stronger in smaller systems (ß-coefficient= −0.43, CI, -0.84, -0.03). CWSs with higher rates of homeownership had lower odds of receiving an MCL violation (OR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.16, 0.67); those serving higher percentages of minorities had higher odds (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.2, 5.4) of an MCL violation. We found that higher arsenic levels and higher odds of receiving an MCL violation were most common in CWSs serving predominantly socio-economically disadvantaged communities. Our findings suggest that communities with greater proportions of low SES residents not only face disproportionate arsenic exposures, but unequal MCL compliance challenges.