Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T06:11:49.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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]
Get access

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). 2009. America's Infrastructure Report Card. ASCE, Washington, DC, 155 pp. Available at http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/.Google Scholar
American Water Works Association (AWWA). 2000. Principles of Water Rates, Fees, and Charges: M1. AWWA Denver, CO, 341 pp.Google Scholar
Bagi, F.S. 2002. Economic Impact of Water/Sewer Facilities on Rural and Urban Communities. Rural America 17(4):44–49.Google Scholar
Bound, J., and Freeman, R.. 1992. What Went Wrong? The Erosion of Relative Earnings and Employment for Blacks. Quarterly Journal of Economics 107(1):201–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullard, R.D. 2001. Environmental Justice in the 21st Century: Race Still Matters. Phylon 49(3-4):151–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullard, R.D. 2005. Environmental Justice in the Twenty-first Century. In The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution, Bullard, R., ed. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, CA, 19–42.Google Scholar
Carrera, J., and Gasteyer, S.. 2008. Wastewater, Public Health and Environmental Justice: Some Reflections on Implications and Strategies. Paper presented at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Boston, July 31. Available at All Academic, http://research.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/4/1/6/4/p241644_index.html?phpsessid=6ad6c4d4fadbf1b6f9df097c11156af9.Google Scholar
Chafets, Z. 1990. Devil's Night and Other True Tails of Detroit. Random House, New York, 240 pp.Google Scholar
Cooper, M. 2009. Aging of Water Mains Is Becoming Hard to Ignore. New York Times, April 17. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/us/18water.html.Google Scholar
Darden, J.T., Hill, R.C., Thomas, J., and Thomas, R.. 1987. Detroit: Race and Uneven Development. Comparative American Cities. Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 317 pp.Google Scholar
Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD). 2010, August 10. Detroit Water and Sewerage Department: Working Around the Clock to Provide Excellence in Water and Sewer Service. DWSD, Detroit. Available at DWSD Fact Sheet, http://www.dwsd.org/downloads_n/about_dwsd/fact_sheet/dwsd_fact_sheet.pdf.Google Scholar
Farley, R., Danziger, S., and Holzer, H.J.. 2000. Detroit Divided. Russell Sage, New York, 320 pp.Google Scholar
Geographic Research. 2011. SimplyMap, October 14. Geographic Research, New York. http://www.geographicresearch.com/simplymap/.Google Scholar
Liquid Assets. 2008. Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure (Documentary). Pennsylvania State Public Broadcasting, University Park. Available at http://liquidassets.psu.edu/.Google Scholar
McMichael, P. 2008. Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective. Sociology for a New Century Series. Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, CA, 376 pp.Google Scholar
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). 2011. Drinking Water. MDEQ, Lansing. http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3313_3675-,00.html.Google Scholar
Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). N.d. Michigan's State Facts. MDOT, Lansing. Available at http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9622_11033_11151-67959-,00.html.Google Scholar
Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). N.d. The Water Industry in Michigan. MEDC, Lansing, 6 pp. Available at http://www.michiganadvantage.org/cm/files/Water%20Industry%20in%20Michigan.pdf.Google Scholar
Nadakavukaren, A. 2000. Our Global Environment: A Health Perspective. Prospect Heights, IL, Waveland Press, 616 pp.Google Scholar
Olmstead, S.M., and Stavins, R.N.. 2009. Comparing Price and Non-price Approaches to Urban Water Conservation. Water Resources Research 45(4):W04301, doi:10.1029/2008WR007227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pontius, F. 2008. Are Drinking Water Regulations Affordable? Journal of the American Water Works Association 100(10):24–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP). 2004. Still Living without the Basics in the 21st Century. RCAP, Washington, DC, 208 pp. Available at http://www.rcap.org/stilllivingwithoutbasics.Google Scholar
Sassen, S. 2001. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 398 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sassen, S. 2006a. Cities in a World Economy. Sociology for a New Century Series. Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, CA, 288.Google Scholar
Sassen, S. 2006b. Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 512 pp.Google Scholar
Sassen, S. 2007. The Global City: One Setting for New Types of Gang Work and Political Culture? In Gangs in the Global City: Alternatives to Traditional Criminology, Hagedorn, J.M.M., ed. University of Illinois Press, Champaign, 97–119.Google Scholar
Schulz, A.J., Williams, D.R., Israel, B.A., and Lempert, L.B.. 2002. Racial and Spatial Relations as Fundamental Determinants of Health in Detroit. Milbank Quarterly 80(4):677–707.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seidenstat, P., Haarmeyer, D., and Hakim, S., eds. 2002. Reinventing Water and Wastewater Systems: Global Lessons for Improving Water Management. John Wiley, New York, 486 pp.Google Scholar
Smith, W.J. Jr., and Wang, Y.. 2008. Conservation Rates: The Best “New” Source of Urban Water During Drought. Water and Environment Journal 22(2):100–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG). 2002, June. Historical Population and Employment by Minor Civil Division, Southeast Michigan: Population 1900–2000, Employment 1970–2000. SEMCOG, Detroit, 29 pp. Available at http://library.semcog.org/InmagicGenie/DocumentFolder/HistoricalPopulationSEMI.pdf.Google Scholar
Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG). 2011. Confronting the Infrastructure Crisis. SEMscope: A Quarterly Publication of SEMCOG (Special issue), Winter 2011, 12 pp. Available at http://library.semcog.org/InmagicGenie/DocumentFolder/SEMscope_Winter2011.pdf.Google Scholar
Stiglitz, J.E. 2002. Globalization and Its Discontents. W.W. Norton, New York, 282 pp.Google Scholar
Sugrue, T. 2005. The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit. Princeton Studies in American Politics. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 416 pp.Google Scholar
Taylor, D.E. 2000. The Rise of the Environmental Justice Paradigm: Injustice Framing and the Social Construction of Environmental Discourses. American Behavioral Scientist 43(4):508–580.Google Scholar
US Bureau of Census. 1998. Federal Legislative and Program Uses. Department of Commerce, US Bureau of Census Washington, DC, 107 pp. Available at http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/content.htm.Google Scholar
US Bureau of Census. 2000a. Summary File 1 (SF 1). Department of Commerce, US Bureau of Census, Washington, DC. Available at http://www.census.gov/census2000/sumfile1.html.Google Scholar
US Bureau of Census. 2000b. Summary File 3 (SF 3). Department of Commerce, US Bureau of Census, Washington, DC. Available at http://www.census.gov/census2000/sumfile1.html.Google Scholar
US Bureau of Census. 2000c. US Census 2000: Form D2. Department of Commerce, US Bureau of Census, Washington, DC. Available at http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/pdf/d02p.pdf.Google Scholar
US Department of Agriculture (USDA). 2009. Rural Development Strategies: Infrastructure. Economic Research Service, Washington, DC. Available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/RuralDevelopment/Infrastructure.htm.Google Scholar
US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 2003. The Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis. EPA 816-R-02-020. Office of Water, USEPA, Washington, DC, 50 pp. Available at http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/gapreport.pdf.Google Scholar
US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). 2009. Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment: Fourth Report to Congress. EPA 816-R-09-001. Office of Water, USEPA, Washington, DC, 66 pp. Available at http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/drinkingwater/dwns/upload/2009_03_26_needssurvey_2007_report_needssurvey_2007.pdf.Google Scholar
US Geologic Survey (USGS). 2011. Domestic Water Use. USGS, Reston, VA. Available at http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/wudo.html.Google Scholar
US Water News. 2002, August 1. Leaky Pipes Create Heavy Water Loss, Cost for Detroit. Available at http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcconserv/2leapip8.html.Google Scholar
Walton, B. 2010a. In Detroit: No Money, No Water. Circle of Blue, April 19. Available at http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2010/world/in-detroit-no-money-no-water/.Google Scholar
Walton, B. 2010b. The Price of Water: A Comparison of Water Rates, Usage in 30 US Cities. Circle of Blue, April 26. Available at http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2010/world/the-price-of-water-a-comparison-of-water-rates-usage-in-30-u-s-cities/.Google Scholar
White House. 1994, February 11. 1994. Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations. Executive Order 12,898. US Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 6 pp. Available at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/ej/resources/policy/exec_order_12898.pdf.Google Scholar
Wilson, S., Heaney, C.D., Cooper, J., and Wilson, O.. 2008. Built Environment Issues in Unserved and Underserved African-American Neighborhoods in North Carolina. Environmental Justice 1(2):63–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, W.J. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 261 pp.Google Scholar
World Resources Institute (WRI). 1992. World Resources 1992–1993. Oxford University Press, New York, 406 pp.Google Scholar
Wright, B. 2003. Race, Politics, and Pollution: Environmental Justice in the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor. In Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World, Agyeman, J., Bullard, R.D. and Evans, B., eds. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 125–145.Google Scholar