Water Quality Work

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Pie Lab Pies

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Today began the first day of my work with JJ collecting samples from houses within Hale County. The name of the study is "Water Quality and Health in Alabama's Black Belt."

Here is some basic background information (provided by JJ):

+ Study of household drinking water quality in Hale County. Decaying infrastructure in rural areas of the county results in serious degradation of water quality as delivered by public and private water systems. 

+ According to a 2005 community service conducted by HERO, 990 households (24% of the total) in rural areas of Hale County did not have domestic water service. Where households are connected to the system, high costs of water (2 to 3 times the national average) and leak-prone domestic pipes often lead to expensive bills. 

The collection of these water samples (gathered Monday-Wednesday) are tested by JJ in the lab and the participants will receive a free water quality report (with . The participants are asked questions about their water quality, demographics, and costs as through a brief survey.The results will help determine if there are possible correlations between human health and water quality. 

Here is WHAT I did today:

JJ told me there are 5 highways that enter Greensboro. We took one of these highways and knocked on clusters of houses to ask for a water sample from their tap or spicket and to answer a couple questions. 

The questions that are asked:

+ Are you connected to county water? Or do you use well water?

+ How long have you been connected? How much did it cost?

+ Do you have any problems with your county water (eg. discoloration, odor, taste, outages, etc)?

+ How much is your monthly water bill?

+ Do you have a septic system?

+ Do you filter your water?

+ How do you rate your drinking water?

The individuals filled a small Nalgene bottle with a corresponding number and survey and I handed them the bottle with a SMILE.

The majority of the individuals who ACTUALLY answered their door were very uneasy about us and what we were doing. As a result I felt pretty uncomfortable because the individuals we spoke to for the most part were uncomfortable. JJ explained to me never to push anyone and to follow the body language and flow of each individual.

Some of these individuals did not even give JJ the time to explain the purpose of our random visit and were on the defensive or chose not to answer the door. Many individuals were not home (it was 1 PM) and the individuals that were home were of the low socio-economic scale and largely African American. It is crazy how much of a difference there is between the houses and the inhabitants of Greensboro I saw over just today. 

I really liked the change of scenery and discussing the importance and social/environmental injustices associated with the water across the Black Belt with JJ today. I am looking forward to learning more...

Justinn