Division of Public Health, University of Utah 375 Chipeta Way, Suite A, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108, USA.
Am J Public Health. 2011 Dec;101 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):S109-14. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300189. Epub 2011 Aug 11.
Potable drinking water is essential to public health; however, few studies have investigated income or racial disparities in water infrastructure or drinking water quality. There were many case reports documenting a lack of piped water or serious water quality problems in low income and minority communities, including tribal lands, Alaskan Native villages, colonias along the United States-Mexico border, and small communities in agricultural areas. Only 3 studies compared the demographic characteristics of communities by the quality of their drinking water, and the results were mixed in these studies. Further assessments were hampered by difficulties linking specific water systems to the sociodemographic characteristics of communities, as well as little information about how well water systems operated and the effectiveness of governmental oversight.
饮用水对公众健康至关重要；然而，很少有研究调查水基础设施或饮用水质量方面的收入或种族差异。有许多案例报告记录了低收入和少数族裔社区（包括部落土地、阿拉斯加原住民村庄、美国-墨西哥边境的移民区以及农业地区的小社区）存在缺乏管道供水或严重的水质问题。仅有 3 项研究比较了饮用水水质与社区人口特征之间的关系，这些研究的结果存在差异。由于难以将特定的供水系统与社区的社会人口特征联系起来，以及有关供水系统运行情况和政府监督效果的信息很少，因此进一步的评估受到了阻碍。
