text.js

export default {
  pageTitle: "Unequal access to water",
  components: {
      introNarrative: {
      title: "",
      paragraph1: `Imagine, for example, that you live in a big house in the suburbs where clean water flows out of every faucet. There’s enough water for you and your family to grow a nice garden every year. The public water supplier treats the water and maintains the distribution system regularly, so you know the water is safe for you to drink. A small, clean stream flows through town, offering a cool place to swim and play during the hot summer months.`,
      paragraph2: `Now imagine you live in a small rural community on the outskirts of town. You have your own well, but in recent years, you and your neighbors have had to dig deeper and deeper to reach water. Dangerous metals are leaching into the water belowground, but you have no way of treating your water before your family drinks it. Because of an ongoing drought, the sparse vegetation surrounding your house has turned a crispy brown. A nearby pond shrinks each summer and acquires a ghastly green hue as it’s choked by harmful algae blooms.`,
      paragraph3: `This dreadful scene may sound like the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic movie, but this nightmare is the unfortunate reality for many Americans. More than 2.2 million Americans lack running water and basic plumbing in their home <a href='https://www.digdeep.org/draining' target='_blank'>(DigDeep, 2022)</a>, and roughly 3% of community water systems have severe issues with water quality <a href='https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23898-z' target='_blank'>(Mueller and Gasteyer, 2021)</a>.Limited access to clean water may be triggered by a single event, like the <a href='storymaps target='_blank'>derailing of the train carrying hazardous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio,</a>, or may be the long-term result of aging infrastructure, as was the case with the <a href='https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/20/465545378/lead-laced-water-in-flint-a-step-by-step-look-at-the-makings-of-a-crisis' target='_blank'>dangerously high levels of lead in the drinking water of Flint, Michigan.</a>`,
      paragraph4: `Marginalized populations in these communities are often disproportionately affected. Communities of color and individuals living below the poverty line are frequently the hardest hit by these environmental disasters, lacking the means to safeguard themselves adequately. They may face barriers to relocation, struggle to take time off work, cope with lost wages, or afford medical expenses. In the case of the Flint, Michigan water crisis, black and low-income communities, who made up <a href='https://apnews.com/general-news-7b2bcfdcc8d74ece9e0cb167a2239745' target='_blank'>57% and 42%</a>, respectively, are some of the socio-economically disadvantaged communities who were affected when the water crisis began. Regardless of the cause, the risk of experiencing water insecurity is closely related to the level of social vulnerability.`,
    },
    agVersusMunicipalText: {
      title: "Social vulnerabilities in agricultural versus municipal sectors",
      paragraph1: "Agricultural and municipal water use are the two largest water-use sectors in the western United States. Studies of social vulnerability to water insecurity in these two sectors tend to focus on different determinants. For the agricultural sector, studies have mostly looked at exposure to external stressors (where water insecurity is happening) and living conditions. On the other hand, studies of the municipal sector have focused on demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status. Many studies of the municipal sector have emphasized exposure, as well. Because of the different focuses of these studies, we understand the influence of determinants like demographics and socioeconomics better in the municipal sector than we do in the agricultural sector. Which brings us to an important point…"
    },
    bubbleChartText: {
      title: "What do we know about how social factors affects water insecurity?",
      paragraph1: "Color = dimension of social vulnerability to water insecurity<br>Bubble = determinant (nested within dimension)<br>Details = indicator (nested within determinant)<br>Size = how much evidence do we have that the determinant contributes to water insecurity<br>Evidence = how much research has been done to assess the effect of the determinant on water insecurity<br>Agreement = how many studies agreed that the determinant increased water insecurity<br><br>Hover on a bubble to learn more",
      paragraph2: "Who we are and where we live affect our access to clean, plentiful water. Certain categories of social factors (called “dimensions”) make us more vulnerable to water insecurity. These dimensions—demographic characteristics, living conditions, socioeconomic status, and exposure to external stressors like drought or pollution—have been studied by many researchers, most of whom agree the dimensions affect water insecurity. But certain aspects of those dimensions of social vulnerability (called “determinants”) are better studied than others. How much do we know about the effects of these determinants on water insecurity? Which determinants are we confident about, and which do we need to understand better? The Socioeconomic Drivers Program of the USGS Water Resources Mission Area is working to find out. "
    },
    mapText: {
      title: "Vulnerability indicators across the Western states ",
      paragraph1: "Infrastructure and institutional factors are major determinants of access to and reliability of water delivery in the United States (Drakes and others., in review). <a href='https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wat2.1486' target='_blank'>Meehan and others (2020)</a> found 471,000 households or 1.1 million people lacked piped water access between 2013 and 2017, with the majority (73%) of these households located in metropolitan areas, and nearly half (47%) in the 50 largest urban areas. The reviewed literature showed indicators of household size, female-headed households, female population, and percentage of females in the labor force were all predominantly positively related and statistically significant/important to water insecurity conditions. Displayed below is a county level map of total households where counties with the greatest total households, in dark blue, include Los Angeles County, California; Harris County, Texas; and Maricopa County, Arizona.",
      paragraph2: "Low income and impoverished persons are more likely to experience water insecure conditions. Moreover, income inequality is a highly significant predictor of plumbing poverty-meaning your home lacks complete indoor plumbing <a href='https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2007361117' target='_blank'>(Meehan and others, 2020)</a>. The county level map below displays median household income in the past 12 months (in 2022 inflation-adjusted dollars). Counties with the greatest median household income are shown in dark blue and include Santa Clara County, California; San Mateo County, California; and Marin County, California.",
      paragraph3: "As median rent values go up, water insecurity tends to go down, likely reflecting greater access to resources for wealthier populations <a href='https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/63f79d49d34e4f7eda456572' target='_blank'>(Hines and others, 2023)</a>. That said, renters tend to be at a higher risk of damage from water-related hazards compared to homeowners. After disasters, renters are more likely to relocate and less likely to apply for and receive assistance. Renters also often lack the authority and means to enact structural changes to their homes for hazard mitigation, response, or recovery, which raises the hazard exposure and susceptibility of renters while lowering their capacity to cope <a href='https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.102010' target='_blank'>(Drakes and others, 2021) </a>. The county level map below displays median gross rent where counties with the greatest median gross rent, in dark blue, include San Mateo County, California; Santa Clara County, California; and Marin County, California.",
      paragraph4: "Hispanic populations are at an increased risk of water insecurity <a href='https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/63f79d49d34e4f7eda456572' target='_blank'>(Hines and others, 2023)</a>. Many Hispanic households lack adequate plumbing, with much of this 'plumbing poverty' clustered in the western United States. In fact, research shows that although Hispanic-headed households make up less than 13% of all U.S. households, they account for nearly 17% of households with incomplete plumbing <a href='https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2018.1530587' target='_blank'>(Deitz & Meehan, 2019)</a>. The county map below shows the percent of Hispanic populations where counties with the greatest percent Hispanics, in dark blue, include Kenedy County, Texas; Starr County, Texas; and Webb County, Texas.",
      paragraph5: "Placeholder text for now.",
      paragraph6: "Placeholder text for now.",
      paragraph7: "Factors associated with social vulnerability to water insecurity are not equally distributed across the Western United States. Certain races and ethnicities are more heavily concentrated in some geographic areas than in others. Similarly, some counties have much higher median household incomes than other counties do. Understanding where these vulnerable populations live is important information for water-resource managers to make equitable decisions about water availability and use."
          },
    metaAnalysisText: {
      title: "Meta-analysis of social vulnerability to water insecurity ",
      paragraph1: `Line thickness = how many studies have looked at the effect of that social vulnerability factor on water insecurity`,
      paragraph2: `Researchers in the USGS Social and Economic Drivers program conducted a <span class="tooltip-span">meta-analysis<span class="tooltiptext">Type of review study where researchers combine data from many different studies to try to identify bigger patterns across all the results</span></span> that <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/data/literature-summary-indicators-water-vulnerability-western-us-2000-2022">identified factors of social vulnerability associated with conditions of water insecurity</a>. The team focused their analysis on studies between 2000 and 2022 that took place in the conterminous United States (lower 48 states) west of the Mississippi River. The Western states face a slew of water availability challenges, including increasing population growth, dependence on groundwater, and generally low precipitation (see <a href='https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/2005/circ1261/pdf/C1261.pdf'>Anderson and Woosley 2005</a> for a discussion of water availability in the Western United States).`,
      paragraph3: `The team found that a small subset of social vulnerability factors was well studied and was consistently associated with water insecurity. These factors included multiple demographic characteristics (age, race/ethnicity, family structure, gender, and language proficiency), dependence on specific sources and uses of water, wealth, and exposure to water-related hazards.`,
      paragraph4: `But these factors are not equally distributed across the Western United States. For example, certain races and ethnicities are more heavily concentrated in some geographic areas than in others. Similarly, some counties have much lower median household incomes than other counties do. Understanding where these vulnerable populations live is important information for water-resource managers to make equitable decisions about water availability and use.`
    },
    socialVulnerabilityText: {
      title: "Where do we go from here",
      paragraph1: "A crucial and largely unexplored area of research is the intersectionality of social vulnerability factors. The factors evaluated by the researchers at USGS represent individual drivers of water insecurity, like household size or ethnicity. What about the people who experience multiple risk factors at the same time?",
      paragraph2: `“Elderly people who have lower incomes are a unique population, existing at the overlap of, but distinct from, the elderly or lower income alone,” says Oronde Drakes, social geographer at USGS and lead author of the meta-analysis. “The interaction of those social characteristics may well have different and significant impacts on water security than would be found exploring those social factors on their own.”`,
      paragraph3: "In this burgeoning field of social vulnerability to water insecurity, we have a lot left to learn. Once we better understand not only where water insecurity is happening, but who is most vulnerable and why, we will be better equipped to address environmental justice and equity issues in water resources."
    },
    teamText: {
      title: "About the team",
      paragraph1: "They rule"
    }

  }
}