{"id":115966,"date":"2022-09-15T20:41:07","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T00:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/?p=115966"},"modified":"2022-09-16T14:13:24","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T18:13:24","slug":"the-dangers-of-underfunded-water-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/the-dangers-of-underfunded-water-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dangers of Underfunded Water Infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By Samhar Almomani, Publishing Associate Researcher &amp; Writer at Save the Water\u2122 | September 15, 2022<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In late August,<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/09\/02\/us\/jackson-mississippi-water-crisis-what-we-know\/index.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Missippi\u2019s Governor declared a water emergency for the residents of Jackson, Mississippi<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pumps at the main water treatment facility failed, leaving more than 150,000 residents without a reliable water source. To many onlookers, what the residents of Mississippi are going through echoes a similar crisis that<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/01\/11\/health\/toxic-tap-water-flint-michigan\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">afflicted Flint, Michigan in 2016<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These crises <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/the-costs-of-neglecting-water-infrastructure\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">remind us need to invest in modern, safe water infrastructure<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">Dangers of Underfunded Water Infrastructure<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many dangers result from underfunded water infrastructure:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jadelearning.com\/blog\/water-infrastructure-issues\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increased breakage<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that results in cutting off water supply<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nwnl.blog\/2020\/12\/02\/the-impact-of-aging-water-infrastructure\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lead and copper leaching <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from corrosion that makes water dangerous<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More water boiling notices due to contaminants\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increased leaks leading to high financial costs<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The City of Jackson in Mississippi suffers from many of these problems.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/08\/30\/us\/jackson-water-system-failing-tuesday\/index.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recent torrential rains compounded years of water infrastructure neglect.<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, thousands of residents have little to no access to clean water. The main water treatment facility failed and directly caused this situation. In 2020, the treatment facility failed an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The EPA had said that the water in the treatment facility could become toxic by being the host to harmful bacteria and parasites \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2022\/08\/30\/us\/jackson-water-system-failing-tuesday\/index.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">based on observations of the water&#8217;s turbidity, or cloudiness, as well as \u2018disinfection treatment concerns, and\/or the condition of the distribution system.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">The Health Effects of Contaminated Water<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Water contamination can<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nrdc.org\/experts\/becky-hammer\/report-water-infrastructure-solutions-health-justice\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cause disease<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in millions of people that rely on that water supply. Ideally, water would be supplied from local water sources, such as rivers and streams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, that is not always the case.\u00a0 Years of underfunding and neglecting water infrastructure exposes people to toxic water every day. Specifically, water treatment facilities that are supposed to clean out the water are not maintained properly, leading to a toxic water supply being sent to homes, schools, and hospitals. Usually, people from a disadvantaged background bear the worst effects.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People from disadvantaged backgrounds also are located in places that are often in low-lying flood zones, near industrial facilities, and other areas considered prone to natural disasters. Living in these areas makes a person especially vulnerable to dangerous effects to health. Namely, failing infrastructure after natural disasters will lead to hazardous substances in the water facilities. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 600;\">What Can You Do to Fix Underfunded Water Infrastructure?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EPA<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/sustainable-water-infrastructure\/building-sustainable-water-infrastructure\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recommends two ways <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to tackle\u00a0 underfunded, aging water infrastructure. The first one involves<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/sustainable-water-infrastructure\/wastewater-technology-clearinghouse\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a wastewater treatment clearinghouse<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which is a platform that allows the sharing of the latest and most cost-effective solutions relating to water treatment. Notably, the clearinghouse will include information for both centralized and decentralized treatment systems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other EPA recommendation involves an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/sustainable-water-infrastructure\/wastewater-technologies-and-assessment-water-and-wastewater\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alternative Technologies and Assessment<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">chart. This chart includes resources that point to the best, newest, and most innovative technologies relating to water infrastructure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can educate yourself about these solutions by clicking the links above. By educating yourself about the ways you can help, you can become an avid activist for safe, drinkable water. This could be done through a number of ways, such as attending council meetings or voicing your concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By bringing attention to the dire issue of underfunded, old water infrastructure and looking into ways you can help, you can start helpful changes in both your community and the world.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Samhar Almomani, Publishing Associate Researcher &amp; Writer at Save the Water\u2122 | September 15, 2022 In&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12901,"featured_media":115967,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,65],"tags":[197,251,505,558,576,577],"yst_prominent_words":[2660,1993,2498,648,792],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115966"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115979,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115966\/revisions\/115979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115966"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savethewater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=115966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}