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ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS & CASE STUDIES: More Cost per Drop: Water Rates, Structural Inequality, and Race in the United States—The Case of Michigan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2011

Rachel Butts  and
Stephen Gasteyer
Rachel Butts
Affiliation:
Graduate Student, Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
Stephen Gasteyer*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
*
Stephen Gasteyer, Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, 316 Berkey Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824; (phone) 517-355-3505; 517-432-2856; (e-mail) [email protected]
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Abstract

While much of the environmental justice literature has focused on exposure to environmental contaminants, this article argues that access to environmental goods should be explored, as well. We do this by looking at the rates paid for drinking and wastewater infrastructure in the United States (US). Although US residents, in aggregate, pay very little for water and sewer (around 1% of household income), the rate varies significantly by place (with Chicago residents paying roughly one fourth of the rates of residents in Atlanta, for instance). We ask whether particular groups may disproportionately pay higher rates. Using census data, we compare the cost of water and sewer across counties in Michigan and find tremendous disparity in reported expenditure. We then use multivariate regression analysis to investigate the relationship among income, urbanicity, race, and cost of water and sewer. Our findings indicate that a higher reported cost of water and sewer is associated most strongly with minority racial status. This results from postindustrial divestment and subsequent depopulation of particular urban areas. As a result, decreased demand (fewer households remaining in the city) actually increases prices (per remaining household), since water infrastructure costs are fixed, and this phenomenon disproportionately disadvantages people of color—who make up the majority of the great industrial cities.

Environmental Practice 13:386–395 (2011)

Type
Features
Information
Environmental Practice , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 386 - 395
Copyright
Copyright © National Association of Environmental Professionals 2011

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