Collaborative research from the Pacific Institute, LiKEN, and RCAP Proposes Community-Centered, Scalable Model to Build Equitable, Resilient Rural Water Systems in Communities with Legacies of Injustice

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, August 7, 2024 – The Pacific Institute, Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN), and Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated (RCAP) today released new research outlining how climate change impacts are leading to devastating consequences for water and wastewater systems in rural communities across the United States. The report also introduces an innovative community-centered framework to assist leaders in rural communities to build equitable water and wastewater systems that will be resilient to climate change in the future. The framework can inform policies and can be adapted and scaled to be used in different rural areas.

The report, “Water and Climate Equity in Rural Water Systems in the United States,” highlights these issues in the Southwest and Central Appalachian regions, where a concentration of homes lack access to water and sanitation services. The research emphasizes how legacies of injustice, disproportionate rates of poverty, and insufficient financial and technical resources in some rural communities create challenges. The report also underscores that climate change will continue to exacerbate many existing water challenges, including water quality, affordability, availability, and access, as well as aging infrastructure and disaster recovery.

“Water and climate risks and vulnerabilities tend to cluster in places where racial and financial inequalities also cluster,” said Dr. Shannon McNeeley, Senior Researcher and Water and Climate Equity Lead of the Pacific Institute.

“Decision makers must grapple with a series of complex realities when developing strategies to build resilient water systems that are equitable,” said Laura Landes, Associate Director of Research and Data at RCAP. “It’s critical that solutions in rural communities are rooted in local knowledge and center the needs and perspectives of local communities.”

“It is a privilege to listen to the insights of people at the frontlines of these challenges,” said Dr. Betsy Taylor, Executive Director of LiKEN. “In many ways, we saw a grim picture. But we also found remarkable openings for durable solutions rooted in local creativity, knowledge, and leadership with respectful support from experts, civil society, and government sectors.”

The report highlights key points for the rural United States:

• Extreme flooding events lead to power and water outages, erosion and increased risk of landslides, mobilizing of pollutants, polluting of water sources, and contamination of rural community drinking water systems.
• Flooding poses a particular risk to decentralized rural water systems and private wells.
• Drought leads to rural groundwater declines through increased reliance on groundwater combined with lack of recharge.
• Wildfires are increasing in extent, duration, and severity and rural water is impacted by increased erosion, landslides, sediment, and contamination, making water resources and drinking water unsafe.
• Extreme temperatures harm rural water by decreasing water availability, as well as contributing to declining water quality.
• While significant barriers and challenges exist related to inequities, funding, and technical or managerial capacity, for example, existing community-based social, natural, and physical assets provide opportunities to build on inherent community resilience for achieving equitable, climate-resilient rural water.
• Tailored and easily accessible technical assistance and tools can support rural communities in achieving equitable, climate-resilient water and sanitation systems.

Some key findings for the US Southwest include:

• Hispanic, Indigenous, and low-income communities in many rural water insecurity hotspots in the Southwest are highly susceptible to climate change impacts.
• Colonias, low-income communities along the US-Mexico border in New Mexico, Arizona, and California that lack clean water, adequate infrastructure or sanitation, and indoor plumbing, face particularly difficult water challenges in the face of climate change.
• Rural Hispanic and Latino communities in California’s Central Valley historically have not received the same access to water infrastructure funding. More extreme drought and precipitation events have compounded their water challenges.
• Native Americans in the Southwest region are more likely to live without indoor plumbing compared to white households in the United States, and many are located in very dry landscapes making them highly exposed to climate impacts.

Some key findings for Central Appalachia include:

• Specific climate and water challenges in the region include extreme flooding and temperature fluctuations, drought, lack of household water access, poor water quality, and lack of wastewater services.
• Systemic patterns of injustice along with some of the highest rates of Safe Drinking Water Act violations and homes without complete plumbing affect Central Appalachia’s rural communities’ abilities to fund preparing their water and sanitation systems for climate change impacts.
• Rate-paying consumers of these systems are particularly vulnerable to water outages, unreliability, pollutants, and increases in the cost of water that climate change will worsen.

Based on learnings from these regions, the scalable solution model created as part of this research prioritizes integrating diverse types of technical and local knowledges to analyze and help solve water challenges. The “Water and Climate Resilience Framework” was designed to be adapted for use in other rural areas, while also informing policy. It provides a way to understand water and wastewater systems in their local and regional contexts. It can bring diverse stakeholders together to develop solutions that integrate engineering, economic, ecological, cultural, and historical assets.

For more information on the project click here.

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About the Pacific Institute: Founded in 1987, the Pacific Institute is a global water think tank that combines science-based thought leadership with active outreach to influence local, national, and international efforts in developing sustainable water policies. From working with Fortune 500 companies to frontline communities, our mission is to create and advance solutions to the world’s most pressing water challenges. Since 2009, the Pacific Institute has also acted as co-secretariat for the CEO Water Mandate, a global commitment platform that mobilizes a critical mass of business leaders to address global water challenges through corporate water stewardship. For more information, visit pacinst.org.

About RCAP: RCAP is a national network of nonprofit partners working with small, rural, and Indigenous communities to elevate rural voices and build local capacity to improve quality of life – starting at the tap. Our more than 350 technical assistance providers (TAPs) act as trusted primary care providers in the training and technical assistance they provide. TAPs are locally based and, with deep trust built over time, we meet communities where they are to co-develop solutions for the challenges that matter most to them. Our TAPs annually work in over 2,000 small, rural, and Tribal communities in every U.S. state, the U.S. territories, and on Tribal lands on issues ranging from gaining access to safe drinking water to creating economic development opportunities that can improve livelihoods and long-term individual and community-wide prosperity. Learn more or find assistance at www.rcap.org.

About LiKEN: LiKEN is a nonprofit organization that links communities, organizations, and researchers with one another to build strong, lasting communities. As a link-tank, LiKEN’s core mission is to support local economies and community happiness and health by strengthening local resources, encouraging reliable teamwork, and creating open and fair information-sharing groups.  We link communities with scholarly expertise and government resources to co-design projects in climate resilience, forest farming, water quality, land use, and cultural narratives. Our current and emerging work focuses on communities affected by environmental injustice and boom and bust economies – primarily in Indigenous communities, Appalachia, and the U.S. South. Our research design is informed by the LiKEN Framework for Collaborative Actionable Research which features asset-based and appreciative inquiry; empowerment, community science, Participatory Action Research (PAR); and democratic knowledge sharing networks centered on the local. Learn more at www.likenknowledge.org.