Health
According to the Centers for Disease Control, global access to safe water, adequate sanitation, and proper hygiene education can reduce illness and death from disease, leading to improved health, poverty reduction, and socio-economic development. Resources available in this sub-theme include guidance on installation of cost-effective safe water supply systems and latrines, summaries of health improvements following WASH projects, and other resources that can help to improve the understanding of the health implications of WASH projects.
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Health Resources
WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) and COVID-19
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June 25, 2021Effective water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) systems are required to protect populations from the spread of Covid-19. But, the large financial impacts the pandemic has had on providers can make it hard to deliver basic services and expand access to safe and reliable water and sanitation sources...Read more
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GlobalWatered Down Justice
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July 2, 2021Safe drinking water is a pillar in good water policy, but many communities of color face barriers that lead to a chronic lack of water access. Serious disinvestments in water infrastructure, which are fueled by systemic racism, have made significant impacts on majority-black cities like Newark, New...Read more
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United StatesWater Justice
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July 9, 2021Waters in urban and rural areas can be contaminated from a variety of sources, including industrial discharges, automobiles, wastewater, and agricultural use. Polluted water can cause environmental health hazards such as poor water quality and unsafe waters for recreation. Water utilities play a...Read more
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United StatesWater justice: why it matters and how to achieve it
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July 9, 2021Clean water is a vital component of safe, clean, and healthy communities. Despite this, billions of people around the world lack reliable access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. Many communities have been systematically excluded from safe water infrastructures due to racism,...Read more
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GlobalFlint Water Crisis: Everything You Need to Know
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July 9, 2021Natural Resources Defense Council
Flint, Michigan’s experience with government mismanagement and pollution has propelled it to the forefront of many environmental justice conversations. Flint, a majority black city north of Detroit, experienced dangerous decreases in water quality after policymakers took the city’s water system off...Read more
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United StatesThe blueprint of disaster: COVID-19, the Flint water crisis, and unequal ecological impacts
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July 9, 2021COVID-19 is unique in the scope of its effects on morbidity and mortality. However, the factors contributing to its disparate racial and socioeconomic effects are part of a continuous history of oppressive social policy. This history is characterized by institutionally generated inequalities forged...Read more
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United StatesWhat Can Communities Do About Lead in Drinking Water?
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July 13, 2021An estimated 6 million leaded service lines(link is external) deliver drinking water to households across the United States, and when these lines leach lead into drinking water, it poses a serious public health problem. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, states and cities are working to issue...Read more
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United StatesEnvironmental justice and drinking water quality: are there socioeconomic disparities in nitrate levels in U.S. drinking water?
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July 13, 2021Low-income and minority communities often face disproportionately high pollutant exposures. The lead crisis in Flint, Michigan, has sparked concern about broader socioeconomic disparities in exposures to drinking water contaminants. Nitrate is commonly found in drinking water, especially in...Read more
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United StatesHealth consequences of drought in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region: hotspot areas and needed actions
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July 13, 2021Over the past four decades, drought episodes in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) have gradually become more widespread, prolonged, and frequent. We aimed to map hotspot countries and identified key strategic actions for health consequences. A series of...Read more
Making the Invisible Visible: Results of a Community-Led Health Survey Following PFAS Contamination of Drinking Water in Merrimack, New Hampshire
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July 13, 2021In March 2016, citizens of Merrimack, New Hampshire, learned that their public water supply was contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). A subsequent state-led investigation revealed widespread contamination of both public and private well water with PFOA and several related chemicals,...Read more
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