Study: Lakes Near Communities of Color Less Inspected for Water Quality

New research from Michigan State University reveals that lakes in U.S. communities of color are three times less likely to be sampled for water quality than lakes in white communities. “The disparity was even larger when taking into account lakes that have been monitored for 15 years or more. Lakes in communities of color were seven times less likely to have long-term monitoring data than lakes in white communities.” 

The researchers used data from LAGOS-US and the U.S. Census to cross-reference lake inspections with the race and ethnicity of communities around them. According to Professor Patricia Sorrano, “To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to examine the availability of lake water quality monitoring data at the national scale from an environmental justice perspective.”

Professor Kendra Spence Cheruvelli outlined their recommendations: “We encourage local, state or regional environmental monitoring programs to include equity in their sampling designs by selecting which lakes to sample based not only on natural features (such as lake size or land use) but also on social features such as race and ethnicity of the nearby communities.”