The Tribal Climate Change Guide is part of the Pacific Northwest Tribal Climate Change Project. For more information, visit: https://tribalclimate.uoregon.edu/. If you would like to add to or amend information included in this guide, please complete this Google Form. If you have additions or suggestions for this website, please email kathy@uoregon.edu.

 

Environmental Justice in the United States: The Human Right to Water

Type
Literature
Publication
Meshel, Tamar. “Environmental Justice in the United States: The Human Right to Water.” Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, July 2018, pp. 264–297., digital.law.washington.edu/dspace-law/bitstream/handle/1773.1/1819/8WJELP264.pdf.
Year Published
2018
Organization
Washington Journal of Environmental Law and Policy
Description

Many low-income communities, communities of color, and indigenous communities in the United States are suffering from unequal access to safe and affordable water. This is partially the result of an ineffective and fragmented legal framework governing water issues in the country. In addition, the notion of a human right to water and sanitation, accepted internationally to reinforce and protect human needs related to water, has yet to be meaningfully recognized in the United States. This article sets out, first, to examine the legal framework governing access to freshwater in the United States and the concerns underlying the reluctance of the federal government and most states to acknowledge the human right to water and sanitation as a legal right. The article then assesses the potential of such recognition to promote laws and policies that would ensure water justice for vulnerable or disadvantaged communities across the United States.