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EJ SMALL GRANT: SAFE DRINKING WATER FOR LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES
Impact/Purpose:
Low income communities face unique obstacles in accessing safe drinking water due to their status as low income tenants and migrant farmworkers, or due to their inability to pay for independetn water testing. A recent statewide audit identified widespread failure of teh state to ensure safe drinking water for all residents of Oregon. Notwithstanding the high incidence of SDWQ violations, few enforcement actions have been taken by state authorities.
The results will be provided to the residents, and compiled for use in informing the public and state agencies charged with upholding the SDWA and the CWA.
Description:
Legal Aid Services of Oregon (LASO) has determined that both EPA Region 10 and the Oregon Health Division have identified regulatory defects in the Safe Drinking Water Act with respect to migrant farmworker drinking water sources. Lack of mandatory testing, lack of enforcement against violators, lack of access to information on drinking water quality, expense of private water testing, and lack of public education ab out drinking water qualityissues and rights significantly affect low income communities. The project will pay for drinking water tests in Clackamas county, Hood River county and Wasco county, Oregon. The focus is testing drinking water form small public water systems, mobile home parks, individual wells and migrant farmworker camps. Contaminants of concern include pesticides, nitrates, lead, arsenic and coliform bacteria. The educational program will be developed to (1) alert targeted low income communities about potential health effects from unsafe drinking water, (2) create a set of multi-lingual instructions on how to access drinking water informaiton provided by the state, including information on what testing is supposed to occur, and how residents can access information about tests performed on their water system(s), and (3) advise communities about how to request enforcement of SDWA by the governmental agencies, as well as what other immediate, remedial steps to take if their drinking water is not safe.
