Water access inequality in US cities

A study examines piped water access in urban households across the United States. Plumbing poverty–the lack of piped water access in households–continues to be an issue in the United States, but the drivers and context of infrastructural inequality are unclear. Using census data from 2013 to 2017, Katie Meehan and colleagues analyzed piped water access for households in the 50 largest US metropolitan areas. Between 2013 and 2017, approximately 471,000 households did not have running water in their homes. Although households without piped water were found in all US cities, they were primarily located in large cities with unaffordable housing markets and wealth gaps. Some of the wealthiest US cities exhibited the highest rates of plumbing poverty, including the metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. Compared with households with piped water, households without piped water were more likely to be nonwhite, low-income, tenants, and residents in mobile homes. Individuals in households without piped water were highly likely to contribute more than 30% of their gross income to housing costs and live in wealthy cities characterized by income inequality. The findings suggest that water access is a social, institutional, and racialized problem, according to the authors.

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Article #20-07361:


“Geographies of insecure water access and the housing-water nexus in US cities,” by Katie Meehan, Jason R. Jurjevich, Nicholas M. J. W. Chun, and Justin Sherrill.

MEDIA CONTACT:


Katie Meehan

King’s College London, UNITED KINGDOM

tel: +44 (0)798 477 1749

e-mail:

[email protected]