![]() Residents of the historically African-American Rogers-Eubanks community located in Orange County, North Carolina, which borders the Orange County regional land-fill, have expressed concerns about a lack of basic amenities including public services such as regulated public drinking water and sewer service storm water management paved roads and sidewalks community lighting curbside solid waste collection and emergency medical, fire, and police protection services ( Campbell, 2007). This potential for conflict has led to the development of principles to help communities prevent harm and maximize potential for research to improve community welfare ( Heaney et al., 2011 Heaney, Wilson, & Wilson, 2007 Israel, Eng, Schulz, Parker, & Satcher, 2005 Minkler, Vasquez, Tajik, & Petersen, 2008 O’Fallon & Dearry, 2002 Parker et al., 2003 Wilson, Bumpass, Wilson, & Snipes, 2008). Although partnerships with researchers can help communities gain access to research and build capacity, the interests of relatively privileged research institutions as well as the career interests of researchers may conflict with the needs of communities facing environmental injustices. Such research may help strengthen community organizing efforts and actions to encourage policy change and compliance with public health standards. ![]() It can therefore be difficult to improve understanding of the extent to which low-income communities and communities of color may be disproportionately affected. Communities near waste disposal sites or industries that release harmful pollutants or other environmental hazards usually lack the financial resources and institutional connections to conduct research into sources and levels of contamination. This may occur due to specific targeting, or it may be a consequence of historical land use patterns, land prices, or other structural factors arising out of inequalities of race and class ( Morello-Frosch Pastor, Porras, & Sadd, 2002 Norton et al., 2007 Wilson, Howell, Wing, & Sobsey, 2002 Wing, Cole, & Grant, 2000). The disproportionate location of environmental hazards in low-income communities and communities of color is often referred to as environmental injustice ( Bullard, 1994 Bullard & Johnson, 2000). Pervasive private household water and sewer infrastructure failures and poor water quality were identified in this community bordering a regional landfill, providing evidence of a need for improved water and sanitation services. Each 100-m increase in distance from the landfill was associated with a 600 most probable number/100 mL decrease in enterococci concentrations in surface water (95% confidence interval = −1106, −93). Respondents to the surveys reported pervasive signs of well vulnerability (100%) and septic system failure (68%). ![]() RENA drafted memoranda of agreement with partners and trained community monitors to collect data (inventory households, map water and sewer infrastructure, administer household water and sewer infrastructure surveys, and collect drinking and surface water samples). Community members from the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association (RENA), concerned about deterioration of private wells and septic systems and a lack of public drinking water and sewer services, implemented a community-driven research partnership with university scientists and community-based organizations to investigate water and sewer infrastructure disparities and the safety of drinking and surface water supplies. ![]() ![]() The historically African-American Rogers-Eubanks community straddles unincorporated boundaries of two municipalities in Orange County, North Carolina, and predates a regional landfill sited along its border in 1972. ![]()
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