More people living without running water in American cities since the global financial crisis

More and more U.S. cities, even those considered wealthy, are home to people living without running water as people are “crushed” by unaffordable housing and the cost of living crisis, a new study finds.

Published in Nature Citiesthe study found that the problem worsened following changes in the real estate market triggered by the global crash of 2008. And since 2017, it has “expanded in scope and severity” to affect a wider number of U.S. cities, including Portland (OR), Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Philadelphia, as well as large urban areas such as Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.

The study also found that people of color were disproportionately affected by lack of domestic water, a situation the authors defined as “plumbing poverty,” in 12 of the 15 largest cities.

Researchers from King’s College London and the University of Arizona said the findings should “sound alarm bells” and warned it would take a “heroic” transformation of housing conditions and social infrastructure for United States meets United Nations goal of ensuring access for all. drinking water, sanitation and hygiene.

Lead researcher Professor Katie Meehan, professor of environmental justice at King’s College London, UK, said: “It is alarming how many US cities, including those considered wealthy and growing, are now home to more people living in situations of extreme poverty. namely without access to running water.

“Our research is the first effort to track these changes over time, beginning in the 1970s and noting a dramatic urbanization of plumbing poverty in the 1990s and a sharp acceleration triggered by the 2008 crash and the current crisis housing and the cost of living.

“The combined pressures of high housing costs and expenses mean that more people with low incomes and limited assets are living without running water in these expensive cities. Far too many people, especially those of color, now find themselves in extreme poverty. pushed into homes that do not meet basic standards of human dignity and life. »

Meehan explained that people can find themselves without running water for a variety of reasons and in most cases they are working but don’t earn enough to make ends meet. Some households may have been disconnected from water service after falling behind on bill payments or having to “downgrade” to housing without access to water because other expenses took priority. Others may live in homes that are poorly maintained by their owners but cannot afford to move, some may live in buildings such as sheds or warehouses that are not designed to be homes, while others may live in buildings such as sheds or warehouses that are not designed to be homes, while still others may find themselves homeless.

Lucy Everitt, a Ph.D. student at King’s College London who was part of the research team, said water cuts are a hidden problem in American cities that can be indirectly detected by U.S. census data.

“New York City tops the list of ‘worst offenders’ for the total number of homes in a U.S. metropolis without running water. Despite this, the Municipal Water Board has issued more than 2,400 closure notices nothing that in March of this year to properties behind on their payments “Because our analysis tracks the status of running water in households, as measured by the U.S. Census, we expect to capture several thousand households including. access is denied due to their inability to pay. “

The study is the first to track the problem over a 51-year period in the 50 largest U.S. cities. In the 1970s, according to census data, 3.5 million American households lacked running water, and as of 2021, that overall figure had declined, but 0.5 million households, or 1.1 million people, still did not have access to running water. This equates to one in 245 households living without running water. The team believes this is likely an underestimate of the true number due to limitations in U.S. Census data.

Other key findings from the study include:

• From 1990 onwards, plumbing poverty moved from a predominantly rural to an urban problem and the latest figures show that 71 per cent of people in plumbing poverty now live in cities.
• In 2021, the New York metropolitan area led the nation in the number of people living in plumbing poverty – a staggering 56,900 people – followed by Los Angeles (45,900 people) and San Francisco (24 400 people).
• People of color make up the majority of people without access to running water in 12 of the 15 largest U.S. cities, including Los Angeles (82%), Miami (79%), San Francisco (74%), and Houston (71%). 2021.

Dr. Jason R. Jurjevich, assistant professor in the School of Geography, Development and Environment at the University of Arizona, who was part of the research team, said: “Our results highlight that the success in reducing plumbing poverty in some U.S. cities over the years The past two decades have been uneven, with households of color often left behind. In Philadelphia, for example, people of color made up 40% of the total population, but made up 66% of people without access to running water in 2021.

The authors believe that not enough attention is paid to how the housing crisis influences people’s access to running water. They recommend reform and improvements to the U.S. Census Bureau’s ability to collect nationwide data on household access to water and the extent of water service outages, in order to monitor and achieve the SDG development goals.

They also said water utilities and water boards must review and revise low-income assistance programs in light of rising costs of living and housing expenses, which “reduce” the people’s ability to pay for water services.