Lakes in marginalized communities sampled less, study finds

by the National Science Foundation
September 9, 2024

Water is essential for all forms of life — humans included — and understanding the quality of available water is critical to knowing where to drink, swim, fish and otherwise make use of the resource. A new analysis, published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, by U.S. National Science Foundation-funded researchers that combines census data and information on lakes finds that critical sampling and monitoring is less likely to occur in lakes surrounded by marginalized communities. This disparity makes assessing the water quality in those communities extremely difficult.

In reviewing both population demographics and one-time monitoring data at the continental scale, the researchers found that lakes in communities of color were three times less likely to be sampled at least once than lakes in white communities. The same disparity exists when comparing lakes in Hispanic communities to those in non-Hispanic communities, the study also found.

Keep reading: https://new.nsf.gov/news/lakes-marginalized-communities-sampled-less-study-finds

Read the Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.2803