Water Quality and Race
Racial Disparities in Access to Clean Drinking Water
Water infrastructure in the United States is aging, with many pipes being over a century old, resulting in approximately 250,000-300,000 water mains breaking annually and the loss of six billion gallons of clean drinking water each day. Nationally, as many as 12.8 million homes and 400,000 schools and childcare centers get their water through lead pipes and service lines. Lead exposure is particularly dangerous for children, as it can cause severe and irreversible cognitive impairments, including reduced IQ and attention deficit disorders. Long-term health effects of lead poisoning in adults include hypertension, cancer, kidney damage, and reproductive issues. Unjustly, communities of color are disproportionately impacted by the presence of lead in their drinking water and race is the strongest predictor as to whether a family has access to safe drinking water.
Lead is not the only water quality issue threatening the health of people of color in the United States:
Twice as many Black people and Latines lack basic access to safe drinking water and sanitation as compared to white people.
Native Americans are 19 times more likely to lack access to basic indoor plumbing.
Residents of rural, predominantly Black counties like Lowndes County, Alabama struggle with untreated sewage caused by failed septic systems.
More than 800 U.S. cities are plagued by combined sewer overflows, which spread untreated sewage into homes, businesses, and waterways whenever there is heavy rain or flooding.
Efforts to replace lead pipes, improve water infrastructure, and provide effective water filtration systems must be prioritized to protect the health and well-being of affected families. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) provided roughly $15 billion to fund the replacement of lead service lines and other lead remediation activities. In addition to the benefits of ensuring communities have access to clean and safe drinking water, it could also lead to the creation of an estimated 56,080 jobs annually for the next ten years, and yield societal benefits worth over $205 billion just by reducing cardiovascular diseases linked to lead exposure.
Lead Service Line Replacement: Milwaukee, WI
In October of 2024 in Milwaukee, WI, President Joe Biden announced the latest revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s plan to remove all lead pipes in the country’s water supply in the next ten years, with unionized workers doing much of the replacement. The BlueGreen Alliance advocated for the implementation of an apprenticeship utilization standard in Milwaukee’s Equity Prioritization Plan, resulting in the requirement that a 1:1 journeyman-to-apprentice ratio for each skilled craft be employed on a project. Learn more about the Lead and Copper Rule in Milwaukee below.