Water and Your Health

From Woburn, Massachusetts, to St. James Parish in Louisiana, to St. Lawrence Island in Alaska near the Russian border, thousands of ordinary Americans, many of them poor, are grappling with an extraordinary problem that most people don’t even worry about: the water they drink simply isn’t safe and the fish they eat from those waters – often a staple of their diet – are contaminated.

Toxic chemicals found in their environment – including mercury, dioxin, DDT, heavy metals and pesticides – are among the frequent culprits that contribute directly to human health problems.

Disadvantaged communities tend to suffer disproportionately from these water-related environmental health threats, for several reasons. They are more likely to have pollution-generating facilities located nearby. Their residents are more likely to eat fish from local waters regularly. They lack the political clout necessary to have serious pollution problems solved, even when such problems are proven to have serious public health effects.

Tragically, many of their residents also lack the financial ability to leave the area when health problems become known. Far too many are trapped in a vicious cycle of pollution, public health problems, property value decline, poverty and political marginalization.

This is what River Network considers environmental injustice and we are committed as an organization to remedy these unfortunate situations. To learn more about the work of our Healthy Waters Healthy Communities program, follow this link.