Murez, Cara. “In U.S., Minority Communities More Likely to Have Water Contaminated by Toxic Metals.” US News & World Report, HealthDay, 28 Dec. 2022, https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-12-28/in-u-s-minority-communities-more-likely-to-have-water-contaminated-by-toxic-metals. 

Water metal concentrations, specifically arsenic and uranium, were found to be significantly higher in the drinking water of minority communities, especially Hispanic and African American. With more “residents from communities of color relying on public drinking water,” they have a heightened risk for arsenic and uranium exposure which can result in adverse, often fatal, health outcomes such as cancer and heart disease. The study tested 2,585 counties for arsenic and 1,174 counties for uranium.

This is incredibly saddening, across all incomes and classes we should strive as a society to provide at least the bare necessities, such as clean drinking water, to everyone; However, especially to people who are systematically disadvantaged due to (racial/ethnic/cultural) biases in society. Perhaps governmentally funded filtration systems are needed to keep heavy metal concentrations low as the alternatives, having low-income families buy bottled water or to have them buy their own filtration systems, is costly and far more time consuming in maintenance for each household. It is unfortunate how our most vulnerable, those of low socioeconomic status, are paying the price for the reckless or ignorant actions of polluting larger corporations and businesses.