Citation:

Twichell, J., K. Mulvaney, N. Merrill, AND J. Bousquin. Geographies of dirty water: landscape-scale inequities around coastal amenities in Rhode Island. International Symposium on Society and Resource Management (ISSRM), Oshkosh, Wisconsin, June 02 - 07, 2019.

Impact/Purpose:

Access to coastal areas and to clean water provides important benefits to residents and visitors in Rhode Island as well as impacts their use of coastal sites and where they choose to live. We explore relative travel distance to public access points and public beaches in Rhode Island among different socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic groups. We also investigate the proximity of different groups to sites with good water quality. Preliminary analysis indicates that marginalized and underserved communities have lesser access to good quality coastal amenities. Understanding these disparities is important to better inform policy and natural resource management decisions.

Description:

Rhode Island’s economy and identity rely on its beaches, coastal areas, and maritime traditions such as fishing, shellfishing, boating, and swimming. Coastal regions are rapidly undergoing development and gentrification, altering residents’ and visitors’ access to and use of the coastline. In addition, poor water quality impacts the use of coastal spaces and thus the benefits derived from them. This study is the first to undertake a socio-ecological, landscape-scale investigation of coastal water quality, public access to coastal amenities, and residential patterns. Adapting methods from studies exploring disparities in green space access among different socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic groups, we model both (1) different groups’ relative access to (i.e., travel distance from) all major public beaches and all public access points in Rhode Island, and (2) those groups’ relative access to high quality coastal amenities, using state 303(d) impaired waters data, state shellfishing closure data, and state beach monitoring and closure data. Our geospatial analysis revealed the inequities still entrenched in access privileges to different coastal areas in Rhode Island. Despite significant and positive efforts to improve coastal pollution, underserved and/or marginalized groups remain disproportionately impacted by poor water quality. Access to clean water impacts the public’s residential and recreational choices, and these choices have societal ramifications at scales that can be difficult to observe. Unearthing the geographies produced around access to good quality natural amenities is important so that policy and natural resource management decisions can better address these disparities.

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