Water security in native American communities of Nevada

Abstract

This study analyzed the access to plumbed water and the quality of the water in Native American communities in Nevada. Census microdata were used to assess trends in household water access along with data on household characteristics sourced from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Water quality reports were downloaded from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online website. Individual compliance reports were accessed to identify health-based violations and violations that were not reported or monitored. The nonparametric Spearman’s rho test was used to estimate trends. The analysis of the number of Native American community members with no access to plumbing increased from 1990 to 2019 (rs = 0.56, p = 0.0081). The overall percentage of Native American homes without indoor plumbing in Nevada was 0.67, which is higher than the reported 0.4 for the United States. The population affected by a lack of access to either plumbing, hot water, a shower, or a toilet increased as the number of family members increased. A growing trend (rs = 0.71, p = 0.018) was observed in the number of Safe Drinking Water Act violations registered by the EPA in water facilities serving Native Americans. The health-based violations most often registered were volatile organic chemicals and Revised Total Coliform Rules. The significance of these findings is highlighted not only in terms of the quality of life of the household members, but other health determinants such as the correlation between the access to clean, safe water and dissemination of diseases.