Authors

• Sharon L. Harlan – Northeastern University
• Stephanie Clark, Lauren Contorno, Rachel Domond, Nickolas Faynshteyn, Kelsi Furman, Fatuma Mohamed, Kiera O’Donnell, Mariana Sarango, and Elisabeth Wilder
• Jessica Bolson, Tim Kirby – Florida International University

Purpose

This study conveys community perspectives on environmental justice and sustainable urban water systems in 9 UWIN study cities. Leaders of community organizations have first-hand, local knowledge of water-related burdens and benefits through their work with residents and through everyday lived experiences in their own homes and neighborhoods. We highlight community voices on social inequities and environmental injustices related to local water resources because these organizations are often overlooked as legitimate water stakeholders.

Description

We interviewed 45 leaders in 44 organizations in and near Baltimore, Boston, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, Portland (OR), and Tucson. Thirty-nine organizations are community-based organizations, defined according to 20 U.S.C.A § 7801(6) as “a public or private nonprofit organization of demonstrated effectiveness that is representative of a community or significant segments of a community, and provides educational or related services to individuals in the community.” The others are two public university centers that bridge academic expertise on water with local water interest groups, one state and one municipal government agency focused on water equity and sustainability, and a private consultant who works closely with resident groups. We located the sample through referrals from members of UWIN stakeholder groups, web searches, and referrals from people we interviewed.
Participants were asked a series of open-ended questions about their views of social inequities and environmental injustices related to local water, origins of inequities, which groups experience burdens and benefits from local water, perceived barriers to sustainable water systems, and visions of sustainable water that benefit and serve all communities equitably. Most interviews took 45-60 minutes and each one was transcribed verbatim.

Contorno, Lauren, Mariana Sarango, Sharon L. Harlan (2018) Environmental Justice and Sustainable Urban Water Systems: Community Voices from Selected Cities in the United States. Northeastern University, Boston, MA. Access: www.northeastern.edu/environmentalhealth/UWIN_Report.pdf

Attributes

Human subjects data. Textual data. Permission to access these data is required by Northeastern University Institutional Review Board agreement #16-12-07, approved January 30, 2017; April 9, 2018.