John: There is a city of 150,000
people where for years residents
have been periodically advised
to boil the tapwater.
And for a week last summer,
there was no reliable water
service at all.
It's not in a developing nation.
It's here in the United States.
Jackson, Mississippi.
While extreme, it's not
isolated.
Last year, drinking water was
found to be tainted in parts of
New York City, Baltimore and the
state of Hawaii.
And of course, Flint, Michigan,
is still coping with the effects
of its lead contamination.
Why are so many cities having
problems with drinking water?
Shannon Marquez is Dean of
global engagement and professor
of water, sanitation and hygiene
at Columbia university.
I'm just going to start with
that question.
Why does one of the most
prosperous prosperous nations in
the world have trouble
delivering safe drinking water
into everyone's home?
>> I think this is a very
complicated issue where we have
a number of things that have
come to a head at one time.
We have aging infrastructure and
repairs and maintenance that
have lacked because state and
local governments have been
overburdened, juggling funding
priorities for years.
That means communities that have
been historically underfunded or
underserved are being
disproportionately impacted.
That coupled with climate change
and extreme weather events and
flooding are increasingly
impacting water systems.
That aging infrastructure also
begins to impact contamination.
So old pipes really can leach
and the poor plumbing can
corrode and lead contamination
from these leaching pipes then
becomes a health issue.
John: This has come to a head in
a number of cities that we
walked through.
But is this more widespread?
Are there other cities having
the same problem, perhaps at a
lower intensity?
>> Absolutely.
Unfortunately, we are only
hearing in the news when there
are these extreme events, when
cities have boil water
advisories.
But the lack of financing to
really rehabilitate old water
systems means that systems have
been neglected for years.
So increasingly, we are going to
hear more and more about this.
But unfortunately, I'm afraid to
say there are many, many
communities who are facing these
challenges right now.
We're not hearing about all of
them.
John: I know you work on water
security in underdeveloped
nations.
Do some of the things you see in
these cities remind you of the
things you see overseas?
>> Absolutely.
Many communities who are facing
these challenges, where there's
a water emergency, they are
having to plan their day, plan
their livelihood, plan their
life around accessing safe
water, and also how to deal with
wastewater.
And this really does mirror many
of the concerns in low and
middle income countries.
John: Is there a simple answer
to explain why Americans are why
-- why Americans or why cities
in America have allowed the
water systems to reach this
state?
>> You know, there are a
combination of things.
One, communities are
generally uninformed about the
vulnerabilities and challenges
with water systems.
For example, when there's a
water main break, it's usually
reported in the context of a
traffic disruption, not the fact
that there is aging
infrastructure or there are
potential challenges with water
quality or conveying the water
as a result of that main break.
Water is not a commodity that's
properly valued in our country.
People really take for granted
that it's going to be readily
available and safe and they do
not realize what it truly costs
to protect water systems and
make them reliable.
And then I would say that
environmental racism and what
we're seeing with communities
who are disproportionately
impacted, it's quite evident
since that the historical
disinvestment in communities of
color really mirrors the
institutional racism and other
barriers that have existed in
our country in the troubled
history.
John: The cities we talked
about, Jackson is 80% black,
Flint is 60% black.
Benton harbor, Michigan, another
city with lead contamination
problems, 80% black.
The president has been going
around the country talking about
his infrastructure bill.
Is that going to provide any
help or is it going to be enough
help?
>> You know, unfortunately,
although this is probably the
most resources and finance that
have been put forth toward and
directed toward this
problem in a number of years,
unfortunately, that $55 billion
is not going to be enough.
It literally is just a drop in
the bucket because the cost of
fixing America's drinking water
infrastructure will be nearly
$480 billion over the next 20
years.
And it's evident that the
infrastructure package will not
meet the full need.
It's also a complicated mix of
criteria that communities must
meet, and that falls with the
states to really decide who is
going to receive and prioritize
those projects.
While all this is happening,
because it takes so long to
implement change in a water
project, the infrastructure is
going to continue to age and the
need for investment will grow.
John: Shannon Marquez, Columbia
university, thank you very much.