Closing the Water Gap

Faculty leader: Dr. Marcela González Rivas  

2023-2024

‘Closing the Water Gap’ is a cross-discipline student working group that researches to inform social action that will expand water access, equity, and affordability. Their two current research projects are focused on the implementation of the human right to water and the global implications of local water policies for environmental justice. The group is a permanent member of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority’s Community Lead Response Advisory Group and Low-Income Assistance Advisory Committee (LIAAC). It also works closely with national and international organizations. Over the past five years, the group has investigated both local and global water issues. In May 2023 members were able to attend the United Nations Water Conference at the UN Secretariat in New York City.

Student Researchers:

2023 Environmental Justice Report

Click Here to view the 2023 Environmental Justice Report.

"Localizing Global Water Justice: Disposing Lead Water Pipes Responsibly" focuses on water infrastructure, specifically lead service lines that bring water from main water lines to a building. Lead is a highly valuable material that has been used in many industries and everyday items for its malleable and durable characteristics, but it also poses devastating health impacts as a result of exposure. 

Read the 2023 Report to see how the working group addresses questions such as:

  1. What are "waste trade" and "recycling"?
  2. Why is it important to identify where in the world U.S. pipes are smelted? 
  3. What U.S. policies regulate the trade of lead pipes?
  4. What barriers prevent local water systems from ensuring removed lead lines are recycled in the United States?
  5. How can we develop locally-focused, globally-minded solutions to this problem?
Environmental Justice Webinar

Click Here for the "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" Webinar discussion on the Closing the Water Gap's environmental justice project. 

2022-2023

During the 2022-2023 academic year the working group applied for and was granted special accreditation by the United Nations to attend the 2023 UN Water Conference. The group sent five students to UN Headquarters where they attended interactive dialogues, plenary sessions, and side events hosted by different organizations attending the conference. Students were able to engage in meaningful discussions with world leaders in the WASH sector (water, sanitation, hygiene). It was especially exciting for me to be there with students to be able to join hundreds of water justice grassroots and other organizations that have been working to advance the implementation of the human right to water across communities around the world.

Student Researchers:

  • Talor Musil
  • Ariana Scott
  • Anisha Mallik
  • Eve Kopicki
  • Galen Miller
2023 UN Water Conference:

During the 2022-2023 academic year the working group applied for and was granted special accreditation by the United Nations to attend the 2023 UN Water Conference. The group sent five students to UN Headquarters where they attended interactive dialogues, plenary sessions, and side events hosted by different organizations attending the conference. Students were able to engage in meaningful discussions with world leaders in the WASH sector (water, sanitation, hygiene).

Students in attendance at the conference were Talor Musil, Ariana Scott, Anisha Mallik, Eve Kopicki and Galen Miller.

Research Highlights:

 

 

2020-2021

The COVID-19 pandemic brings renewed urgency to water access because of its direct connection to public health. Low-income and Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and this is exacerbated by the fact that water affordability is becoming a major problem in many US cities, including Pittsburgh. The working group's goal in 2020-2021 was to analyze programs designed to ensure water access and sanitation for BIPOC and low-income groups facing difficulties paying their water bills.

The first objective of the working group was to conduct a review of water bill assistance programs and classify them according to the level of protection offered (i.e. temporary public health-related vs full protections covering economic effects of the pandemic). The second objective was identifying the leading affordability programs and their key characteristics (target beneficiaries, income eligibility thresholds, registration process, implementation challenges and financing, etc.). Students reviewed the academic, human rights, and advocacy literature on water access, as well as conduct research to identify bill assistance programs, classify them, and conduct in-depth interviews of program managers of the leading affordability water programs. By the end of the academic year, the working group produced a report and made a presentation to the Low Income Assistance Advisory Committee of the Pittsburgh Water and Sanitation Authority.

Student Researchers:

  • Collin Farone (MPIA '22)
  • Luciana Lemos (MPA '22)
  • Anisha Mallik (MID '22)
  • Kenneth Reilly (MPA '22
2021 Report 

Click Here to view the 2020-2021 "Best Practices for Water Assistance Programs and Water Access in Pittsburgh" report. 

Summary:

COVID-19 highlighted many social issues, the importance of water affordability among them. The economic impact of the pandemic affected many people’s ability to pay bills for fundamental needs like water. However, the United States has long been facing a water affordability crisis, the causes of which began decades ago. This report looks at customer assistance programs, their shortcomings, the Philadelphia Tiered Assistance Program (TAP) as an example of good practices, and affordability issues in the city of Pittsburgh.