Geospatial representation of United States community water system estimated service area boundaries: A crucial step to assessing water justice at the community level

Keywords: drinking water, service area boundaries, water justice
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 30

Abstract

The lack of community water system service estimated area boundaries (CWS_ESABs) has resulted in numerous studies reporting county and or city-level drinking water analyses. The practice of using a proxy area (e.g., county) to represent a CWS_ESAB is problematic because 96.1% of counties have more than one CWSs and population demographics are not evenly dispersed. We present a state-level review of geospatial representation of CWS_ESABs. To identify and obtain these data, we conducted online searches, and contacted primacy agencies, government entities, water industry organizations, and academic representatives. Our primary aim was to collect CWS_ESABs. Nevertheless, we collected all available CWS geospatial data, such as digitized water lines without estimated service area boundaries. We harmonized the CWS geospatial data to create, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first national representative geospatial database of CWS_ESABs. We found that 31 states had some format of visual representation of CWSs that was publicly available or required a data use agreement. Of these states, 24 have data representing CWS_ESABs. This geospatial repository of CWSs provides foundational spatial data that will enable researchers to conduct more granular research to assess the relationship between CWSs and the populations they serve. Our findings aim to prompt discussion among myriad stakeholders around the need to create, standardize, refine, update, and maintain CWS_ESABs to ensure water justice for all communities.