A Case Study in Anacostia, DC
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1 Expanding Conceptions of Water Security and Health: A Case Study in Anacostia, D.C. Abigail Ulman Advisors: Professors Mark Giordano and Emily Mendenhall Third Reader: Professor Uwe Brandes A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of Honors in Science, Technology, and International Affairs, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Spring 2019 2 Acknowledgements I am incredibly grateful to a number of people: family, friends, professors, mentors, and local partners, who have supported me as I struggled through this thesis process for the past year. To my mentor, Professor Mark Giordano: Thank you for all your support and encouragement throughout this process. I would never have thought to conduct a case study in D.C. if it were not for an offhand comment you made in office hours. Your paper on water security sparked my interest in exploring the concept further. Thank you so much for your quick replies, direct feedback, and reassurance when I doubted myself. To Professor Mendenhall: I would not have known what to write or how to write it without you. You pushed me to think harder and write better than I ever could alone. You taught me about coding, qualitative analysis, concept mapping, and how to write a literature review, and were always available to answer questions and talk my ideas through with me. I will be forever grateful for your guidance and mentorship throughout this process. To my third reader, Professor Uwe Brandes: Thank you so much for your insightful comments and thoughtful feedback. I am honored to gain approval of my thesis from an expert on D.C. and urban studies! To the residents I interviewed and the community organizations I partnered with: Thank you for allowing me into your space and telling me about your lives and work. I am grateful for your openness and willingness to let me explore this important issue with you and your organizations. Thank you especially to Tommy Lawrence and the Earth Conservation Corps, who generously opened up their Pump House for my community presentation, and to Trey Sherard, who has been invaluable in connecting me with community members and providing his incredible amount of expertise on the Anacostia River and communities around it. To my brother, Nate: Thank you for your copy edits and for suffering through my hundred- page document voluntarily. You’re my favorite brother! To my friends: Thank you for listening to my rants about my thesis and environmental justice and pretending to be interested. I appreciate your support! Lastly, to my parents: Thank you so much for all the support, both emotional and financial, you provided throughout this process. You were there for me every step of the way: when I scrambled to finish the interviews, when I complained about transcription, when I coded my interviews at my grandparents’ over Thanksgiving break, when I broke down (more than once) because I thought I would not finish in time, when I rehearsed my presentation, and finally when you drove six hours each way to stay for twenty-four hours and watch me present my thesis. I truly could not have completed this endeavor without your assistance and love, and I am more grateful than I can express for your unconditional belief in me. 3 Table of Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................................ 4 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................................................................... 11 I. CONCEPTS OF WATER SECURITY AND HEALTH ..................................................................................... 11 II. HEALTH EFFECTS OF WATER SECURITY ................................................................................................ 16 III. GENDER DYNAMICS OF WATER SECURITY AND HEALTH ................................................................. 24 IV. URBAN WATERWAYS AND THE FUTURE OF WATER SECURITY AND HEALTH .................................. 27 CONTEXT: HISTORY OF THE ANACOSTIA RIVER.................................................................................. 29 I. ANACOSTIA RIVER: BEGINNINGS AND POLLUTION ............................................................................... 29 II. TRASH IN THE RIVER ............................................................................................................................. 31 III. THE BANKS OF THE RIVER: ANACOSTIA WATERSHED ...................................................................... 33 IV. THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................................ 39 V. POVERTY ............................................................................................................................................... 41 VI. HEALTH DISPARITIES IN THE COMMUNITY ....................................................................................... 44 VII. FISH CONSUMPTION IN THE ANACOSTIA RIVER ................................................................................ 47 VIII. DRINKING WATER AND INFRASTRUCTURE ....................................................................................... 50 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................. 51 I. STUDY SETTING ..................................................................................................................................... 51 II. DATA SOURCE ....................................................................................................................................... 52 III. DATA COLLECTION ........................................................................................................................... 54 a. Part I: Qualitative Interviews with Residents ................................................................................... 55 b. Part II: Qualitative Interviews with Local Community Leaders and Workers ................................. 56 c. Part III: Quantitative Government Data .......................................................................................... 59 IV. DATA MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................................................ 60 V. DATA ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................... 60 RESULTS .................................................................................................................................................................. 61 I. RESIDENTS ............................................................................................................................................. 63 a. Water use .......................................................................................................................................... 63 b. Experiences around water ................................................................................................................ 67 c. Feelings around water ...................................................................................................................... 68 d. Perceptions of the water in their lives .............................................................................................. 72 e. Health effects .................................................................................................................................... 74 II. COMMUNITY LEADERS .......................................................................................................................... 77 a. Water security ................................................................................................................................... 77 b. Assessment of resident perceptions .................................................................................................. 78 c. Health effects .................................................................................................................................... 83 d. Change in the Anacostia River ......................................................................................................... 86 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................................................... 90 LIMITATIONS .................................................................................................................................................. 99 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................................... 101 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................................... 103 4 Abstract Water security is traditionally conceptualized as an issue of access to a regular supply of drinking water of good quality, only affecting health when communities lack an improved water source or proper sanitation facilities. However, research has shown that even communities with reliable drinking