Unsafe Drinking Water in Texas

Part 1:

Safe water for everyone is one of the most important basic human life needs. It is a right that everyone should have for their well-being and health. States are in charge of funding public water systems, and it is of the utmost importance that every system is not in violation of unsafe water. Unfortunately, when states do not act quickly, this is how situations like Flint, Michigan’s lead water occur. Nothing was done about the aging and corroded pipes in the water supply, and 6,000 to 12,000 children were poisoned with the leached lead (Arquhar, 2019). This has happened repeatedly since the federal government put states in charge and instead of the government setting the standards based on the Clean Water Act and Safe Water Act and providing the money. (Arquhar, 2019). Figure 1 demonstrates how in the 1970’s the federal government had a more active role in investing in water infrastructure and how over time this has changed, and the state and local governments are investing billions in safe water and people are now suffering the consequences. Due to aging infrastructure and strained finances, the ones who then face the burden of unsafe water are ethnic minorities and rural communities (Davis, 2019).

Figure 1

Congressional Budget Office, 2019; Arquhar 2019

In the United States, Oregon is the leading state with the safest drinking water due to minimal pollution, natural water sources, and vigilant monitoring (Winfield, 2022). New Jersey is ranked the lowest state with the most EPA water violations that put its people at risk. It doesn't have many natural water sources and factories have polluted the waters with Bisphenol A (BPA) and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs) which disrupt endocrine chemicals and alter hormones in the body. In certain cities, the people rely on water bottles and water filters to protect them from the hazardous chemicals in their tap water. Texas is ranked 6th for the worst drinking water and has the most radiated water in the country. Its waters are polluted from algae and red tide and rural water systems do not receive enough funding from the state to clean up their water systems and now hundreds of public water systems in Texas are in violated of EPA standards and their residents are at risk from unsafe levels of lead, arsenic, and radiation that pose a danger to their health. Allaire et al. (2019) reports that in the last 34 years, 9 to 45 million people drink from water sources in violation. In 2015 alone, almost 21 million people depend on unsafe drinking water from water sources that have health violations (Allaire et al., 2018) Allaire et al. (2018) Figure 2 shows the violations from 1982-2015. The health violations are shown in clusters, and Lubbock County, located in West Texas, is within those clusters, as shown by the Figure 3 map of West Texas. 

Figure 2

Figure 3

West Texas. Community Access, Inc., Tyler, Texas. (2014). https://www.communityaccessinc.com/pages/locations/west-texas 

Part 2: 

Deepika Kurup: A young scientist's quest for clean water | TED Talk 

In this video, Deepika Kurup describes the unsafe drinking water in India and while many in the United States are fortunate to drink clean water from their tap there are many cities here that go overlooked and have to boil the water or buy water bottles. Allaire et al. (2018) shows that areas with violations that pose an immediate risk have a 14% increase in water bottle sales. 

Discussion Prompt: 

Should the federal government go back to investing more in water infrastructure? Or do you believe there is a better solution to help out small and rural public water systems?

References: 

Allaire, M., Wu, H., & Lall, U. (2018). National trends in drinking water quality violations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(9), 2078–2083. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1719805115 

Allaire, M., Mackay, T., Zheng, S., & Lall, U. (2019). Detecting community response to water quality violations using bottled water sales. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(42), 20917–20922. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1905385116 

ARQUHAR, D. (2019). More Ebb Than Flow: Funding isn’t keeping pace with increasing demands for safe drinking water and wastewater removal. State Legislatures, 45(6), 14–15. 

Davis, J. (2019). Drinking water a little-noticed environmental justice problem. SEJ. https://www.sej.org/publications/backgrounders/drinking-water-little-noticed-environmental-justice-problem 

Winfield, S. (2022). Best & Worst Tap Water in the US: State-by-state analysis. Water Defense. https://waterdefense.org/water/tap/best-us-water-states/

West Texas. Community Access, Inc., Tyler, Texas. (2014). https://www.communityaccessinc.com/pages/locations/west-texas