Disparities in disruptions to public drinking water services in Texas communities during Winter Storm Uri 2021

Abstract

Winter Storm Uri of February 2021 left millions of United States residents without access to reliable, clean domestic water during the COVID19 pandemic. In the state of Texas, over 17 million people served by public drinking water systems were placed under boil water advisories for periods ranging from one day to more than one month. We performed a geospatial analysis that combined public boil water advisory data for Texas with demographic information from the 2010 United States Census to understand the affected public water systems and the populations they served. We also issued a cross-sectional survey to account for people’s lived experiences. Geospatial analysis shows that the duration of boil water advisories depended partly on the size of the public water system. Large, urban public water systems issued advisories of intermediate length (5–7 days) and served racially diverse communities of moderate income. Small, mostly rural public water systems issued some of the longest advisories (20 days or more). Many of these systems served disproportionately White communities of lower income, but some served predominantly non-White, Hispanic, and Latino communities. In survey data, “first-generation” participants (whose parents were not college-educated) were more likely to be placed under boil water advisories, pointing to disparate impacts by socioeconomic group. The survey also revealed large communication gaps between public water utilities and individuals: more than half of all respondents were unsure or confused about whether they were issued a boil water advisory. Our study reinforces the need to improve resilience in public water services for large, diverse, urban communities and small, rural communities in the United States and to provide a clear and efficient channel for emergency communications between public water service utilities and the communities they serve.

Winter Storm Uri: Public Drinking Water System Resilience in Texas

“…Communities During Winter Storm Uri 2021" (Tomko et al 2023). Readers are encouraged to consult the original article for citation purposes.…”

“…A geospatial analysis was conducted to examine the distribution of the duration of boil-water advisories across Texas (Tomko et al 2023). Data were gathered from the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) under the Texas Public Information Act.…”

“…• Service area (Tomko et al 2023). Survey respondents self-identified as 56% (149) female, 43% (114) male, 1% (two) nonbinary, and .5% By understanding which public systems are most affected and identifying the contributing factors, new strategies can be used to increase their resilience under future weather extremes.…”

“…An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and a multivariate analysis of covariance were conducted to explore participant ethnicity, income, and first-generation status related to their experiences with water access. For the full project description and experimental analysis details, refer to Tomko et al 2023.…”

“…The limits of water treatment technologies and the capabilities for water supply are tested under severe weather conditions, such as the uncommon freezing temperatures that occurred during Winter Storm Uri in 2021. A recently published analysis (Tomko et al 2023) of geospatial and survey data shows that public water services need to improve their resilience and communicate more effectively with the communities they serve during emergencies regarding issues such as the loss of drinking water services. Winter Storm Uri was the largest known boil-water event in US history (Glazer et al 2021), and the range of responses reflects the resilience of the region's public water services.…”