The Hidden Racial Inequities of Water Access in America - GQ

The Safe Water Drinking Act also doesn't apply to systems that include fewer than 15 connections, or that serve fewer than 25 people. This means anyone who isn't linked into a large grid is more or less on their own, and the facilities they have to build, install, and maintain are subject to little regulatory oversight. The report says that nearly 23 percent of private wells tested by the U.S. Geological Survey yielded evidence of arsenic, uranium, or other dangerous forms of contamination.

Meanwhile, federal investment has plummeted over the past several decades, from a 63 percent share of total capital spending on water and wastewater in 1977 to less than nine percent today. Free grant money turned into expensive loans, forcing state and local governments to take on debt in order to make meaningful improvements. In lower-income, rural areas where subsidized construction hasn't already occurred, modest local budgets can't compensate for the shortfall, and the customer base isn't large or wealthy enough to independently finance the costs of improvements. Oftentimes, this doesn't just mean that tap water is unsafe; it means there is no tap water at all. "Communities without access now have to struggle to catch up to the rest of the country with both hands tied behind their backs," McGraw says.

Instead, residents rely on a patchwork system of solutions to meet their needs: using wells, collecting from springs, buying bottles, and occasionally building unsanctioned, jerry-rigged hookups to nearby mains. In majority-Latinx colonias near the U.S.-Mexico border, the report documents how residents haul water by car or on foot, or pay up to $250 a month to have it trucked in—and even then, they aren't sure if it's safe to drink. Problems like these affect lower-income areas that are predominatingly white, too; in parts of Appalachia, researchers found that some residents waited to shower until a rainstorm and then stood outside underneath overflowing gutters.

For sanitation, those without access to sewer systems use septic tanks, lagoons, and improvised systems of PVC pipe that drain untreated wastewater outside, sometimes into their own yards. In eastern Puerto Rico, researchers interviewed people who deal with daily flooding in their yards because the developer installed insufficient septic systems in their homes. People also cut way back on overall water usage: In Red Mesa, Arizona, a Navajo Nation town along the Utah border, researchers learned that residents use as little as 2-3 gallons of water per day. The average American uses 88. As documented by PBS last year, even in areas of Navajo Nation where a water main is accessible, hooking into it can take up to 15 years and cost more than $12,000.

This dependence on inefficient delivery systems, crumbling infrastructure, and obsolete technology entails a host of devastating consequences. Waterborne illnesses that are functionally nonexistent elsewhere remain a constant worry. Property values can plummet, since homes without running water are hard to sell, and economic growth can stall. "We talked to people in towns without sewer systems where businesses thought about locating there, and then didn’t because they'd have to build their own wastewater system," Roller says. In areas with large undocumented populations, people can be reluctant to complain or seek help for fear of drawing the attention of immigration authorities. And the cost of obtaining water stretches the finances of already-cashed-strapped households, preventing them meeting other critical but not necessary-for-human-life needs. In Red Mesa, researchers met a resident whose water-gathering efforts cost $200 per month in gas money alone.

Going without running water carries a social stigma, too, Many people who collect their water outside the home do so at night, for example, in order to avoid being seen by their neighbors. The rationing process can be especially hard on children. "Imagine you haven't brushed your teeth or showered in a week, and everyone else in your school did so this morning," says McGraw. "We hear all the time from parents whose kids don't want to go to school because they're worried about how they smell."

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