Water Inequality Used to Be a Developing World Problem Only. Not Any More.
14 October 2019
Insights + Opinion
Protestors marched outside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Monday, August 26, during the MTV Video and Music Awards to bring attention to the water crisis currently gripping the city. Karla Ann Cote / NurPhoto / Getty Images
By Will Sarni
It is far too easy to view scarcity and poor quality of water as issues solely affecting emerging economies. While the images of women and children fetching water in Africa and a lack of access to water in India are deeply disturbing, this is not the complete picture.
<p>The city of Flint, Michigan, where dangerous levels of <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/04/us/flint-water-crisis-fast-facts/index.html" target="_blank">pollutants contaminated</a> the municipal water supply, is a case in point — as is, more recently, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/nyregion/newark-water-crisis.html" target="_blank">the city of Newark, New Jersey</a>.</p>
<p><em>Will Sarni is the founder and CEO of Water Foundry.</em><br/></p><p><em><em>Note: This post also appears on the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/10/water-inequality-developing-world-usa-west/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></em></p><p><em><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/2019/world/water-inequality-used-to-be-a-developing-world-problem-only-not-any-more/" target="_blank">Circle of Blue</a>.</em></em></p>
The Past Is No Longer a Guide to the Future
<p>We get ever closer to "day zeros" — the point at when municipal water supplies are switched off — and tragedies such as Flint. These are not isolated stories. Instead they are becoming routine, and the public sector and civil society are scrambling to address them. We are seeing "day zeros" in South Africa, India, Australia and elsewhere, and we are now detecting lead contamination in drinking water in cities across the U.S.<br></p><p>"Day zero" is the result of water planning by looking in the rear-view mirror. The past is no longer a guide to the future; water demand has outstripped supplies because we are tied to business-as-usual planning practices and water prices, and this goes hand-in-hand with the inability of the public sector to factor the impacts of climate change into long-term water planning. Lead in drinking water is the result of lead pipe service lines that have not been replaced and in many cases only recently identified by utilities, governments and customers. An estimated 22 million people in the U.S. are potentially using <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/115/9/2078" target="_blank">lead water service lines</a>. This aging infrastructure won't repair or replace itself.</p><p>One of the most troubling aspects of the global water crisis is that those least able to afford access to water are also the ones who pay a disproportionately high percentage of their income for it. A report by <a href="https://www.wateraid.org/us/" target="_blank">WaterAid</a> revealed that a standard water bill in developed countries is as little as 0.1 percent of the income of someone earning the minimum wage, while in a country like Madagascar a person reliant on a tanker truck for their water supply would spend as much as 45 percent of their daily income on water to get just the recommended daily minimum supply. In Mozambique, families relying on black-market vendors will spend up to 100 times as much on water as those reached by government-subsidized water supplies.</p><p>Finally, we need to understand that the discussion of a projected gap between supply and demand is misleading. There is no gap, only poor choices around allocation. The wealthy will have access to water, and the poor will pay more for water of questionable quality. From Flint residents using bottled water and paying high water utility rates, to the poor in South Africa waiting in line for their allocation of water — inequity is everywhere.</p>Water Inequity Requires Global Action — Now.
<p>These troubling scenarios beg the obvious question: What to do? We do know that ongoing reports on the 'water crisis' are not going to catalyze action to address water scarcity, poor quality, access and affordability. Ensuring the human right to water feels distant at times.</p><p>We need to mobilize an ecosystem of stakeholders to be fully engaged in developing and scaling solutions. The public sector, private sector, NGOs, entrepreneurs, investors, academics and civil society must all be engaged in solving water scarcity and quality problems. Each stakeholder brings unique skills, scale and speed of impact (for example, entrepreneurs are fast but lack scale, while conversely the public sector is slow but has scale).</p><p>We also urgently need to change how we talk about water. We consistently talk about droughts happening across the globe — but what we are really dealing with is an overallocation of water due to business-as-usual practices and the impacts of climate change.</p><p>We need to democratize access to water data and actionable information. Imagine providing anyone with a smartphone the ability to know, on a real-time basis, the quality of their drinking water and actions to secure safe water. Putting this information in the hands of civil society instead or solely relying on centralized regulatory agencies and utilities will change public policies.</p>From Your Site Articles
- Newark Water Filters Are Working, Tests Suggest - EcoWatch ›
- Newark's Lead Crisis Escalates - EcoWatch ›
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New Jersey Gov. Murphy said 6,500 households in Newark have signed up for lead service line replacement, and so far more than 900 service lines have been replaced. Edwin J. Torres / Governor's Office
Newark water is safe to drink, if you use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved filters issued by the city, according to new test data that city and state officials announced Monday.
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<p>New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced that more than 1,700 samples were taken from 300 homes. The tests showed that the filters were tested and 97 percent of the filters worked effectively once the tap was turned on. That number rose to 99 percent when the tap was allowed to run for five minutes before a sample was collected, as the <a href="https://www.apnews.com/24cc04e2caea44b8ac0d7e1eade51495" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p><p>"These results are a welcome jolt of positive news that allows us collectively to charge ahead in implementing our short-term, midterm and long-term solutions," Murphy said at a news conference on Monday, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/nyregion/newark-water-crisis.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>Newark officials had handed out more than 38,000 <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/lead">lead</a> filters to address the issue, but two filters <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/newark-lead-crisis-2639800364.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">tested last month</a> showed levels of lead as high as 57.9 parts per billion — nearly four times the EPA action level of 15 parts per billion, as the <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/09/23/lead-filters-working-in-newark-tap-water-safe-to-drink-officials/" target="_blank">New York Post</a> reported. The failed test spurred the city and religious groups to distribute <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bottled-water" rel="noopener noreferrer">bottled water</a> to nearly 14,000 homes.</p><p>The PUR filters issued by the city reduce traces of lead to less than 10 parts per billion, the test showed, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/23/us/newark-water-filters-test-safe/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. However, scientists say there is no safe level of lead in water. High blood lead levels may impair a child's mental development and damage organs, while even small amounts can affect a child's intellectual development, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/nyregion/newark-water-crisis.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>"We thank God that the filters work, but we are not in any way having a victory lap," said Ras Baraka, Newark's mayor, as the <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/09/23/lead-filters-working-in-newark-tap-water-safe-to-drink-officials/" target="_blank">New York Post</a> reported. "It is good news in a long and arduous task to make sure we have clean drinking water."</p><p>Baraka is looking to lead by example, insisting that he drinks the water now, as <a href="https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/09/23/n-j-officials-to-announce-results-of-newark-lead-filter-testing/" target="_blank">WCBS</a> reported.</p><p>Since it is not a victory lap, the city will continue to distribute bottled water until a final report on the test samples is issued and all doubt about the efficacy of the filters is removed. Additionally, the city will launch a community assistance program to help ensure all affected residents are using the filters correctly, according to the <a href="https://www.apnews.com/24cc04e2caea44b8ac0d7e1eade51495" target="_blank">AP</a>.</p>
<p>New Jersey recognizes the scientific consensus that there is no safe level of lead in the water, so it is waiting for President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Trump</a> to sign a bill that allows $100 million from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to be used to replace lead pipes in New Jersey, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/23/us/newark-water-filters-test-safe/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>Gov. Murphy said that 6,500 households in Newark have signed up for lead service line replacement, and so far more than 900 service lines have been replaced. The city is replacing the lines at no cost to homeowners thanks to funding recently secured by Essex County. The Essex County Improvement Authority announced in August that it will lend $120 million to Newark to replace lead pipes, which will allow the city to fix 18,000 lead service lines in two to three years, instead of the initial expectation of eight to 10 years, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/23/us/newark-water-filters-test-safe/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>The National Resource Defense Council, which has sued Newark over lead levels and its mismanagement of its water problems, welcomed the results, but expressed caution.</p><p>"We say 'trust, but verify,'" Erik Olson, a senior director at the group, said, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/nyregion/newark-water-crisis.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported. "The city, state and federal Environmental Protection Agency should provide all test results and the protocols used to test the filters to the public so Newark residents can feel confident that filters will protect their health. Anything less than full transparency will breed further distrust and skepticism."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">8 Ways to Protect Yourself From Lead-Contaminated Water <a href="https://t.co/cZ9hUXBVwR">https://t.co/cZ9hUXBVwR</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Waterkeeper?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Waterkeeper</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/foodandwater?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@foodandwater</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/waterforpeople?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@waterforpeople</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/991496260619251713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 2, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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