A 2002 study published by the Annual Review of Public Health found that Low-income communities and communities of color are more likely to have contaminated drinking water.Evans, G. W., and E. Kantrowitz. 2002. "Socioeconomic Status and Health: The Potential Role of Environmental Risk Exposure." Annual Review of Public Health 23: 303–331. A 2019 study by a team of epidemiologists found that community water systems with higher nitrate concentrations tended to serve communities with higher proportions of Hispanic residents.Schaider, L.A., Swetschinski, L., Campbell, C. et al. Environmental justice and drinking water quality: are there socioeconomic disparities in nitrate levels in U.S. drinking water?. Environ Health 18, 3 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-018-0442-6 Nitrates have been linked to cancer, reproductive problems, and death in infants.Moore, E., and E. Matalon. 2011. The Human Costs of Nitrate-Contaminated Drinking Water in theSanJoaquinValley.Oakland,CA:PacificInstitute. Additionally, contamination of drinking water contributes to 20 percent of lead poisoning in children; per studies in 2000 and 2004, low-income African American and Latino children have disproportionately high levels of lead in their blood.National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee Cumulative Risks and Impacts Group (NEJAC). 2004. Ensuring Risk Reduction in Communities with Multiple Stressors: Environmental Justice and Cumulative Risks/Impacts. Washington, DC: US Environmental Protection Agency.US Commission in Civil Rights (USCCR).2000. America's Children and the Environment: A First View of Available Measures. Washington, DC: US Environmental Protection Agency.
