Media
February 19, 2021All Communities Deserve Safe Water
Brand New Video from Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, Lideres Campesinas, and NRDC: Watered Down Justice, on race, income, and the need to ensure safe water for all.
In September, 2019, Coming Clean, EJHA, and NRDC released Watered Down Justice, an analysis that documented a disturbing relationship between sociodemographic characteristics - especially race - and drinking water violations.
In this new video, Elizabeth Martinez of Lideres Campesinas (and a resident of Kern County, California), talks about the impacts of living in a county with a long history of violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Michele Roberts of EJHA, and NRDC scientist Kristi Pullen Fedinick highlight their analysis of EPA data that shows why local, state and federal lawmakers must fix this urgent problem now.
"There are more than 3,000 counties in the United States. We found that in 400 of those, race was a factor in respect to the water issue. That's big for us. That shows that race significantly matters." Michele Roberts, EJHA
"I believe we have to work harder to get our voices heard. Safe drinking water should be a right. Water is life. We shouldn't be paying high bills for something that is going to kill us." Elizabeth Martinez, Lideres Campesinas
"As a scientist, I was surprised to find that race had the strongest relationship to the length of time people had to live with drinking water violations. But as a Black woman, I was not surprised at all." Kristi Pullen Fedinick, NRDC