Balazs on origins and persistence of drinking water disparities
From the American Journal of Public Health:
The Drinking Water Disparities Framework: On the Origins and Persistence of Inequities in Exposure
Carolina L. Balazs, PhD, and Isha Ray, PhD
At the time of research, both authors were with Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley.
Contributors
C. L. Balazs originated the study and its design, collected the data, performed qualitative analyses, prepared the first draft of the article, and was the lead author. I. Ray played a significant role in the analysis of results and contributed equally in the writing of the article. Both authors read, edited, and approved the final article.
Peer Reviewed
ABSTRACT
With this article, we develop the Drinking Water Disparities Framework to explain environmental injustice in the context of drinking water in the United States. The framework builds on the social epidemiology and environmental justice literatures, and is populated with 5 years of field data (2005–2010) from California’s San Joaquin Valley. We trace the mechanisms through which natural, built, and sociopolitical factors work through state, county, community, and household actors to constrain access to safe water and to financial resources for communities. These constraints and regulatory failures produce social disparities in exposure to drinking water contaminants. Water system and household coping capacities lead, at best, to partial protection against exposure. This composite burden explains the origins and persistence of social disparities in exposure to drinking water contaminants.
