The Color of Drinking Water: Class, Race, Ethnicity, and Safe Drinking Water Act Compliance

The recent lead crisis in Flint, Mich., has brought the issue of environmental justice to the forefront of drinking water concerns in the United States. National utility data show safe drinking water act violations are greater in low-income communities with higher black and hispanic populations. Beyond the public health implications, the Flint lead crisis has drawn national attention that was due in part to the city’s demographic compo­sition. The demographic realities in Flint have made it emblematic of environmental injustice, a term that represents the possibility that poor and minority communities may be disproportionately exposed to environmental harms.