On Feb. 2, I attended the Clean Water Trust Oversight Committee’s second public input session on its draft strategic plan framework. Where did this committee come from?
Shortly after my wife and I moved here seven years ago, we learned that the water in surrounding communities is contaminated. We heard stories from our friends and neighbors of health effects that they attributed to drinking that water, including cases of premature births, birth defects, high rates of childhood asthma and high rates of respiratory and heart illnesses.
Numerous meetings and rallies were held in support of local people’s demand for assuring the accessibility of clean water for all. In response, legislators appointed a joint Clean Water and Flood Abatement Task Force, which submitted its report in 2017. The report not only confirmed this earlier finding that our water was contaminated but also proposed solutions. This report led to legislative action, which created the Clean Water Trust. The intent of the legislation is clearly to provide clean water to people to protect their health, with special emphasis on disadvantaged minority communities who have been victims of unchecked water pollution. We commend the work done by legislators, the leadership of the governor and the diligence of Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control state employees.
The problem of unsafe water has been with us for a long time and the history of previous unsuccessful government attempts and projects has made people distrustful of government. Local residents fear that, regardless of the good intentions of the governor, legislators and state employees, the result will be the same as in the past: The government bureaucracy will allow known polluters and big business to move in to write the proposals, get the contracts and spend the money in the name of poor people with very little or no benefit to them.
Another key concern of the community has been inadequate enforcement of current rules and regulations. In Sussex County, we don’t have a county agency to do local monitoring, and we have to rely on DNREC in Dover. It’s very difficult and costly for a state inspector to travel for hours in the summer heat in bumper-to-bumper traffic to take a water sample. As a result, enforcement of the current laws and regulations has been very lax, and in many cases, the monitoring has been left up to the polluters. This, in turn, has emboldened them to continue their practices. In the past, when they were caught, the fines were just a slap on the wrist, whereas the community suffered the consequences of their actions for years.
This time could be different.
First, we have plenty of money. In addition to the Clean Water Trust funds, federal infrastructure funds will soon be available. But these funds must be applied effectively and justly. State officials are hard at work expanding their capacity to manage this money appropriately. At the same time, the poor and underserved communities that this money is intended to help don’t have the know-how or the organizational structure to access and utilize these funds. The plan should include adequate resources to help these communities build their own capacity to apply for and utilize available funds in a productive manner, with the county and state agencies providing technical support. Without the capacity at the local level, it is likely that the government will be tempted to take the easy route again, giving the money to contractors without adequate local supervision.
The state of Delaware has had a very successful experience with volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic, where retired nurses, doctors, pharmacists and other health professionals were asked to help the state health department to provide vaccinations. Their credentials were checked, their backgrounds were evaluated, they were given proper state identification, and they did a heck of a job helping administer hundreds of thousands of doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Delawareans.
We can do similar activity with DNREC. There are many retired people, engineers, regulators, former Environmental Protection Agency employees living in our communities, and they are willing to help the state with clean-water issues. With a little additional training and proper evaluation of their credentials, these people can be the eyes and ears and hands on deck for the state. Having qualified people on the state registry will also help in dealing with any future environmental emergencies. The presence of registered local volunteers will make industry more careful and provide people assurance that their water quality is properly protected.
To be effective, the plan should also include measurement of the health effects of the clean-water plan. Recognizing that all this effort is to protect the health of people and to improve their quality of life, the oversight committee plan should include doing a health survey of the community prior to implementing it. A post-program survey will also be needed to assess the amount of progress made in improving the health status of the community.
It is an established fact that the effectiveness of a plan is ultimately determined by how it is implemented. I am hopeful that with the quality of people on the Clean Water Oversight Committee, this plan will be carried out more effectively. To ensure local participation and transparency, people who live in affected communities where these projects will be funded should have community advisory committees that include only the residents of that community. They should have regular public meetings with the government contractors and state officials as the project is being implemented.
Clean water is NOT a short-term issue. It will require infrastructure that is sustainable by the community beyond the time when the current funds are used up. This will require innovative partnerships between the state and county governments, working together with local communities. Appointment by the governor of a designated leader in his office to coordinate and oversee this implementation will also be needed.
We have a unique opportunity. We have very qualified staff, informed legislators, a thoughtful governor and our own Delawarean, Joe Biden, as president of the United States. All the stars are aligned. If not now, then when? People in the underserved communities have waited long enough.
Two of my good friends, a husband and wife, attended every local and state clean-water meeting. Last week, the wife died, waiting to see her community of Possum Point made whole by this legislative action.
People have been waiting for too long. Let’s do it right this time.
Dr. Mohammad N. Akhter of Selbyville is the former director of DC Health and the former executive director of the American Public Health Association.
