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.`,
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, originating from historical sources such as old industrial landfills and corroded copper pipes soldered with lead, are leaching into the water belowground, but you have no way of treating your water before your family drinks it. A nearby pond shrinks each summer and acquires a ghastly green hue as it’s choked by harmful algae blooms.`,
paragraph3:`This scene may sound hard to believe, but inadequate access to clean water is the unfortunate reality for many Americans. <emph>More than 2.2 million Americans lack running water and basic plumbing in their home </emph> <a href='https://www.census.gov/data/developers/data-sets/acs-5year.html' target='_blank'>(U.S. Cenusus Bureau, 2023)</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='https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/7f105650f97e4b20839edb65de3b12ce' 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>`,
paragraph3:`This scene may sound hard to believe, but inadequate access to clean water is the unfortunate reality for many Americans. <emph>In 2023, 548,772 households in the 50 U.S. states, D.C., and Puerto Rico lacked indoor plumbing </emph> <a href='https://data.census.gov/table?q=B25049&y=2021' target='_blank'>(U.S. Cenusus Bureau, 2023)</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='https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/7f105650f97e4b20839edb65de3b12ce' 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 are often disproportionately affected by water insecurity. Communities of color and individuals living below the poverty line are frequently the hardest hit by <span class="tooltip-group"><span class="tooltip-span">water-related hazards,</span><span id='water-hazards-tooltip' class="tooltiptext">A natural phenomenon and a situation where there is threat to life, health, environment, property, and society. Examples of water-related hazards include floods, hydrologic droughts and storm surges.</span></span> lacking the means to safeguard themselves adequately. They may face barriers to relocation or 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 at the time made up <a href='https://apnews.com/general-news-7b2bcfdcc8d74ece9e0cb167a2239745' target='_blank'>57% and 42%</a> of Flint's population, respectively, were some of the socio-economically disadvantaged communities most affected by lead exposure. Regardless of the cause, the risk of experiencing water insecurity is closely related to the level of <span class="tooltip-group"><span class="tooltip-span">social vulnerability</span><span id='social-vulnerability-tooltip' class="tooltiptext">Conditions in which societal factors shape exposure to hazards, susceptibility to suffer harm, and ability to cope and recover from losses.</span></span>.`
