Quantifying Racial Disparities in Water Affordability
Abstract
Water services are essential‚ for all populations, yet the affordability of water
has emerged as a major challenge faced by community water systems. While water costs
rise for an increasing number of public water utility customers, there is no mandate
to ensure equitable affordability, only guidelines by the EPA. Under EPA guidance,
the metric for water affordability was previously based on water costs as a percentage
of median household income for the entire area served by a water system. Recently
developed metrics quantify the water affordability burden with greater attention to
lower income households. Specifically, the Household Burden Index‚ measures the cost
of water services as a percentage of low-income households’ annual income. In addition
to examining water affordability, it is also essential to assess the presence of inequalities
between racial and ethnic groups. As such, this study examines racial and ethnic disparities
in the affordability of water services in North Carolina. To determine the racial
and ethnic composition of a water utility, this study implements a novel method of
fitting block group level US Census data within water utility boundaries established
with newly digitized service boundary maps. The study concludes there is a modest
but significant correlation between low affordability of water services and higher
proportion of black and Hispanic residents in a block group. Community water systems
should apply our findings to affordability planning in their service areas.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22703Citation
Sayed, Sara; & Smith, Hannah (2021). Quantifying Racial Disparities in Water Affordability. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22703.Collections
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