{"id":114980,"date":"2022-02-26T11:59:06","date_gmt":"2022-02-26T16:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/?p=114980"},"modified":"2022-02-26T14:57:29","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T19:57:29","slug":"water-inequality-poor-drinking-water-quality-plagues-some-states-in-the-united-states-more-than-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/water-inequality-poor-drinking-water-quality-plagues-some-states-in-the-united-states-more-than-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Water Inequality: Poor Drinking Water Quality Plagues Some States in the United States More than Others"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Emma Cheriegate, Staff Researcher & Writer at Save the Water\u2122 | February 24th, 2022<\/span><\/p>\n

Many Americans hear \u201cwater crisis\u201d and think of one place: Flint, Michigan. Lead contaminated their drinking water supply in 2014. <\/span>However, the contamination issues didn\u2019t stop in Flint.<\/span><\/a> Water pollution, also called water contamination, affects millions of Americans each year. Contamination issues range from infections to full-blown diseases. And contamination doesn\u2019t affect all United States\u2019 regions equally. To understand contamination, we must first understand who is at highest risk and why.<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. States with a History of the Worst Drinking Water Quality<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Safe Water Drinking Act (SWDA) sets water quality standards for drinking water in the United States. SDWA violation counts track the safety levels in community water supply systems. <\/span>A recent study<\/span><\/a> analyzed recorded violations from 1982 to 2015 throughout the contiguous United States. Texas, Oklahoma, and Idaho topped the list for receiving the most violations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another study<\/span><\/a> looked at SWDA violations between 2014-2018 and in 2020. \u200b\u200bFor SWDA, four states topped the list with the most violations:<\/span><\/p>\n