Spatial Statistical Methods to Assess the Relationship Between Water Violations and Poverty at the County Level: In America, Who Has Access to Clean Water?

• Activity Number: 359 - Advances in Spatial and Spatio-Temporal Statistics
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 5, 2020 : 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics and the Environment
• Author(s): Ruby Bayliss* and Loni Tabb
• Companies: Drexel University and Drexel University
• Keywords: Spatial Statistics; Geographically Weighted Logistic Regression; Residential Segregation; Water Violations; Socioeconomic Status; County Health Rankings

Abstract

The 2014 Flint, Michigan water crisis brought national attention to the importance of safe drinking water. Water violations within community water systems (CWS) is well documented throughout the USA, but the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and water violations is unclear. Residential segregation may also provide more accuracy in understanding this relationship. Our goal was to determine the county level spatial patterning of neighborhood characteristics related to SES, residential segregation and the distribution of water violations throughout several states. Using County Health Rankings data, we identified three states based on varying proportions of counties that had at least one CWS violation. Utilizing exploratory and inferential spatial statistical methods, we examined the spatial patterning of water violations and neighborhood characteristics within each state. We found variation in the spatial patterning of the SES variables among the states, in addition to varying impacts of residential segregation. Policies regulating drinking water must consider that neighborhood characteristics may influence the spatial patterning of water violations within a community.