Event Summary: A Panel on Rural Water Justice (3.22.22)
For our fifth and final event in our 2021–2022 Rural Reconciliation Project program series on RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE, we were thrilled to host a panel chaired by Priya Baskaran (American University Law) featuring Camille Pannu (UC Irvine Law), Oday Salim (Michigan Law), and Katherine Garvey (West Virginia Law).
All of the panelists are clinical law faculty and scholars who work directly on rural water governance, equity, and infrastructure issues around the United States, and their discussion focused on the theme of RURAL WATER JUSTICE. A full recording of this panel discussion is here.
On this page, Karsen Sims, esteemed RRP research assistant and second-year law student at the University of Nebraska College of Law (find her bio in the student contributor section here), provides a summary of the conversation, from her perspective.
On Tuesday, March 22, 2022, a panel led by Priya Baskaran and featuring Camille Pannu, Oday Salim, and Katherine Garvey discussed rural water justice, with particular focus on the pervasive problems that prevent many rural communities from creating and maintaining adequate water infrastructure.
First, Katherine Garvey discussed her personal experience of rural water justice in McDowell County, West Virginia. As director of the Land Use and Sustainability Law Clinic at West Virginia Law, Garvey often works directly with organizations focused on improving the county’s water infrastructure. She outlined practical barriers these communities face, such as workforce, infrastructure, and a shrinking population, as well as the legal barriers they face, including maintaining compliance with regulations and accessing legal services.
Garvey acknowledged the question many people ask when discussing problems that continuously affect Appalachia is: “Why do we care about Appalachia? Haven’t we done enough?” Garvey’s answer was simple and concrete: We care about Appalachia because humans live there. These are communities with a rich history that have already sacrificed so much. Regardless of where they are located, Garvey explained everyone should have the right to quality water.
Next, Camille Pannu discussed her work throughout rural California, particularly focusing on the intersection of race and class with rural water inequality. Despite California being the first state to adopt a human right to water through their legislature, quality water is still a dream for many rural communities there, especially those that are racially and ethnically diverse. For example, Pannu focused on the community of Lanare in Fresno County, California. Lanare is a historically Black community that is now majority Latinx. Lanare’s water system has very high arsenic levels. The county started an arsenic treatment plant years ago – a plant that still today has never even run. Pannu uses this as an example of the structural barriers that exist for rural communities, which are often driven by race and even class.
In sum, Pannu asked the audience to start thinking about how we deal with water distribution in areas where it doesn’t make sense to build a full, networked water infrastructure system. Pannu argues all of the problems currently faced by these communities demonstrate the of lack of thoughtful policy in the area of rural water infrastructure.
Finally, Oday Salim focused on drinking wells and the challenges of private wells. Salim discussed that there is currently no state or federal principal regulatory framework devoted to residential well protection. Salim explained how, because of this, residential water well users, particularly in rural areas, face many threats to their wells. Salim outlines threats such as contamination from PFAS, oil and gas, coal, industrial spills, septic tanks, and more.
Further, not only are the wells threatened, but Salim dives deep into the challenges facing residents even attempting to address the problem. For instance, the costs associated with well testing, treatment, and drilling new wells can quickly become out of financial reach for most. Every current solution (i.e., setback requirements, administrative involvement, tort litigation, financial assistance, etc.) is often impractical or unavailable for those who need them most. Salim argues the real solution requires us to shift the cost burden associated with providing quality rural water infrastructure. Examples of this shift in cost burden includes: “polluter pay” laws, modifying causation standards, authorization of local health agencies with a rural presence to help, and regulation of underregulated chemicals like PFAS.
As the talk concluded, panelists discussed how the administrative process makes it hard for rural communities to manage and deal with this infrastructure. Each panelist left the audience with some “takeaways.” Garvey reiterated that access to water should always be a basic necessity ensured in rural communities through federal, state, and local grants, nonprofit organizational efforts, and more. Garvey explained that efforts in rural communities to increase jobs, broadband, and more are great – but they mean nothing if people’s basic necessities are not met. Pannu explained that even though recent federal legislation has begun to establish stronger water infrastructure incentives, they still are incomplete because the formulas for financial aid are largely biased against or impractical for rural communities. Finally, Salim urged for more cross-community connections. He believes we are not making enough connections between urban areas and rural communities facing water injustice, because if these communities could be connected and realize they’re ultimately suffering similar problems, then there would be a stronger front for effecting legal change.
The audience had several questions for the panelists ranging from what role the Fair Housing Act could play on helping with access to water to how individuals can reinvest and reengage in rural communities. To conclude, the panelists left the audience with a call to action – reemphasizing the importance of how those with professional skills can help with rural water justice, such as: serving on public service district boards, volunteering with local advocacy groups, pro bono work (especially transactional work like regulatory compliance, due diligence/funding reviews, etc.), and to consider partnering with local community-based participatory research questions that inform legislation.
