By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Americans in vulnerable communities across the country are at risk of or already experiencing a water crisis marked by limited access to safe drinking water and clean lakes and streams. Pollution, aging infrastructure and underinvestment have left many communities vulnerable to long-term illness and a diminished quality of life.
Approximately 2.2 million Americans live in homes without running water or basic plumbing, according to DigDeep, a human rights non-profit organization. Black and Latino households are twice as likely to live without basic plumbing as White households.
The U.S. economy loses $8.58 billion annually in reduced earnings, lost tax revenues, labor disruptions and healthcare costs due to this water access gap. Closing the gap could unlock $200 billion of economic value over the next 50 years.
“Clean water is a human right,” said Alice Volpitta, Baltimore Harbor waterkeeper with Blue Water Baltimore, an environmental human rights group. “Throughout history, civilizations have been established near bodies of water because clean water is so essential to our everyday quality of life.”
Even with progress in cities like Baltimore and Flint, Mich., residents remain vulnerable.
“In 1972, we passed the federal Clean Water Act, which establishes everybody’s right in the United States to fishable, swimmable, drinkable waterways,” said Volpitta. “We really haven’t lived up to that promise because we still have waterways in Baltimore, for example, that are chronically contaminated with sewage overflows.”
Those waterways include Stony Run, Jones Falls and Herring Run. In 2019, the Baltimore City Department of Public Works reported that around 45 million gallons of storm and sewer water overflowed into Jones Falls and Herring Run after heavy rain.
“People are experiencing sewage backups in their homes as a result of our failing underground infrastructure,” said Volpitta. “If you live in a neighborhood with a higher percentage of Black residents in Baltimore, you are statistically significantly more likely to experience a sewage backup.”
As of the city’s 2024 Consumer Confidence Report, Baltimore’s drinking water remains in compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standards.
Cities across the nation are working to improve their water systems.
In Flint, Mich., as of July 1, the city completed a pipe replacement program, excavating around 28,000 pipes and replacing about 11,000 lead pipes. Still, some lead pipes remain, and activists such as Amariyanna “Mari” Copeny, 18, say there is work to be done.
“[Service] lines at abandoned and torn down homes still remain,” said Copeny via Instagram on July 8. “The city is still giving out filters at city hall and at least one leader said they don’t drink the unfiltered water and still buy bottled water.”
The Flint water crisis began in April 2014, when unelected “emergency managers” switched the city’s water supply from the Detroit Water and Sewage Department system to the Flint River. The decision, made without voter consultation, aimed to cut costs.
After the switch, residents were told to boil water due to bacteria. But the issues didn’t stop there. City officials discovered lead in the water supply and then residents faced a spike in Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that nearly 100,000 residents of Flint had been exposed to lead between April 2014 and October 2015.
Lead exposure can cause long-term health problems, especially for children. The change in water supply to save money led to dire health consequences, lawsuits, criminal investigations and a national spotlight on water supply systems across the country.
Now, federal rollbacks in 2025 of diversity, equity and environmental policy initiatives have frustrated local leaders and organizations.
“It took years for us to get here and it took days to see it just canceled,” said Dr. Tiara Moore, founder and CEO of Black In Marine Science (BIMS), a global community for Black marine scientists.
Moore said the work of Black activists was propelled by the rise of outrage and demand for change in 2020 after the death of George Floyd, helping secure legislation and funding. She said that progress is being halted or reversed.
“We have to tap into the power of our ancestors who found a way out of no way with no social media and no resources,” said Moore.
As for ensuring that infrastructure repair costs do not overwhelm residents through taxes, Volpitta said state-level support is essential.
“If we can’t rely on federal funding,” she said, “then we have to look to each other and lift each other up.”