#91: Why is Drinking Water So Unaffordable for So Many Americans?

We’re back!

In Episode 91, Quinn & Brian ask: Why is drinking water so unaffordable, or unavailable, or just filthy for so many people?

Our guests are: Nina Lakhani & Mary Grant. Nina is environmental justice reporter for The Guardian US and Mary Grant is the Public Water for All Campaign Director at Food & Water Watch. They’ve bottled up their empathy and their anger for good, and we think they fit right in on the show.

If it wasn’t already obvious: water is important. It’s one of the few things we actually need to survive, believe it or not. We’ve all heard of problems in Flint, but that’s not some crazy anomaly. It’s just the one town that got the most media attention, and even then, there are still huge problems with their water supply.

The inequitable access to basic resources has been normalized in our country, but let's be clear about one thing — it’s NOT normal, and it doesn’t happen at anywhere near this scale in other developed countries. So, want to Make America Great Again? Well, let’s start by just getting us to a C average in basic human rights.

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INI Book Club: 

• The Dictionary
• https://bookshop.org/shop/importantnotimportant

Links:

• Call your Senator and tell them to fight for a second Coronavirus Relief Package that includes a national moratorium on water, power, and broadband shutoffs: 202-609-9041
• Tell your representative to support for the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Act (HR 1417, S611)
• www.foodandwaterwatch.org
• Read Nina’s articles: theguardian.com/profile/nina-lakhani
• Nina on Twitter: @ninalakhani
• Mary on Twitter: @MaryGrant_Water
• The Human Utility
• Navajo Relief Fund

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• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
• Artwork by Amrit Pal

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