After improper disposal of 1,4-dioxane at a manufacturing plant outside of Ann Arbor, MI a three square mile groundwater plume has slowly spread throughout Scio Township and Western Ann Arbor. Almost 40-years after its discovery this harmful chemical has closed over 100 residential wells and threatens drinking water infrastructure in Ann Arbor and surrounding areas.
Residents of Mount Vernon, New York, predominantly from minority backgrounds, have suffered for decades under a failing wastewater infrastructure that is now being addressed with a significant $150 million investment plan. Chronic sewage backups have created a perpetual state of environmental injustice, adversely impacting the health and quality of life of the community. This long-awaited intervention, championed by Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard, represents a pivotal move towards restoring public health, environmental quality, and social equity in Mount Vernon.
Detroit is undertaking a $40 million stormwater management endeavor in the Far West neighborhood and Rouge Park. The project includes the creation of two new detention basins and major sewer system upgrades aimed at reducing flood risk for 1,200 homes, minimizing the number of CSO events in the Rouge River, improving local water quality, and enhancing recreational spaces.
In order to alleviate the traffic pressure of the Bosphorus Canal, reduce the potential risks of ships loaded with dangerous materials, and promote the country’s economic development, Istanbul Canal will be built connecting Marama Sea and the Black Sea. However this project will cause insecurity for Russia, upset environmental stability, pollute freshwater resources and deplete land for people's living.
Lowndes County in rural Alabama faces inadequate sanitation practices resulting in 90% of community members having failing sewage systems polluting their living spaces. Current policies in place further exacerbate the problem. A hopeful solution to the issue is a USDA fund to help the community replace the current septic tanks.
Vietnam, particularly the region of Quang Nam, are located in an area extremely vulnerable to flooding events, which devastate the mostly agricultural region, and climate change has directly resulted in these flooding events getting worst in the past twenty years. Instead of addressing changes that could actually address the issue, however, the government has focused most of its effort on reforestation and forest management, despite lack of evidence that these actions are at all likely to help mitigate disastrous flooding events.
The Tar Creek Superfund site is located in northeastern Oklahoma on Quapaw tribal land and is the site of former zinc and lead mining site. The acid mine drainage from this site has been polluting the local community and watershed for over 50 years and is still toxic despite being a superfund site since 1983. Local community members have been fighting to continue the cleanup of the site despite the slow progress made by the EPA.
This dissertation details the stormwater management practices and history in East Tampa, and uses them as a framework to address stormwater management on a larger level. It goes into detail about East Tampa, although it also mentions a number of other places, and does so by approaching the subject of stormwater management through a lens influenced by both environmental justice and critical race theory.
This study was conducted to address possible disparities across socioeconomic strata in regards to drinking water contamination. Seeking to look specifically at nitrate, a number of findings were made that raised concern - specifically that Hispanic communities are much more likely to experience high nitrate contamination in the water.
New Jersey's Environmental Justice Law helps protect underrepresented and disadvantaged communities from environmental impacts by limiting industrial and waste facilities in those communities. Additionally, greater attention has been focused on cleaning up contaminated waste sites and holding those accountable for polluting these communities.