Water Justice Program

Like many other environmental justice communities in Chicago, Little Village has been negatively affected by outdated water infrastructure, including lead service lines that impact water quality, lack of sewer maintenance and land use policies that impact urban flooding, and unaffordable water rates hinder access to water. In a twelve-year period (2007 to 2018), nearly 3,000 water shutoffs happened within the Little Village community. These shut-offs occur when residents cannot afford to pay their water bills. These shutoffs leave residents vulnerable and without access to water, which we believe is a fundamental human right. LVEJOs Water Justice program conducts research, advocacy, and outreach while also providing resources to community members in need. Our Water Justice program aims to educate and inform the community about best practices if there is a concern with accessing water or any water quality issues in their home. We work with a network of local partners and organizations to advocate for just policies that ensure clean, safe, and affordable drinking water and equitable water infrastructure improvements in our community. In addition, we also provide resources and information that address the immediate needs of Little Village residents. 

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SELECT PUBLICATIONS

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Little Village Collateral Channel Report

This report details the impact of the Collateral Channel on the residents of Little Village. Historically a dumping ground of industrial pollution in the community, the Collateral Channel now exists as a health nuisance for those living, working, and recreating near its location at W 31st St and S Albany Ave. The Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) and the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) covered three areas in our report:

• History of Little Village, the Collateral Channel, and previous plans to cleanup and reuse the channel.
• Existing conditions of Little Village and the area around Collateral Channel, including demographic data, health estimates, and land use change.
• Survey results of community members on their experiences with odors in the area around the Channel.

We identified several key findings that can be viewed in our infographic for the report, but include:

• Collateral Channel has dangerously high levels of sediment contamination, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are potentially carcinogenic (cancer causing).
• Decades of plans for remediation/cleanup or new recreational uses of the Collateral Channel have not led to cleanup of the site.
• South Lawndale’s large youth and older adult population (37% of the community) is at risk of health issues near the Collateral Channel.
• Hydrogen sulfide gas from the Collateral Channel may impact residents, with 66% of survey respondents reporting health issues from odors in the area.
• Over half of the survey respondents did not stay outside in the area around the Collateral Channel for as long as they wanted due to odors.

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Informe del canal colateral de La Villita

Este informe detalla el impacto del Canal Colateral en los residentes de Little Village. Históricamente un vertedero de contaminación industrial en la comunidad, el Canal Collateral ahora existe como una molestia para la salud para aquellos que viven, trabajan y recrean cerca de su ubicación en W 31st St y S Albany Ave. La Organización de Justicia Ambiental de la Pequeña Aldea (LVEJO) y el Centro de Tecnología de Vecindarios (CNT) cubrieron tres áreas en nuestro informe:

• Historia de La Villita, el Canal Colateral y planes anteriores para limpiar y reutilizar el Canal.
• Condiciones existentes de la comunidad de La Villita y las áreas más cercanas al Canal Colateral, incluyendo datos demográficos, estimaciones de salud y cambios en el uso de la tierra.
• Resultados de encuestas de miembros de la comunidad sobre sus experiencias con olores en el área alrededor del Canal.

Identificamos varios hallazgos clave que se pueden ver en nuestra infografía para el informe, pero incluyen:

• El Canal Colateral de tiene niveles peligrosamente altos de contaminación de sedimentos, incluyendo hidrocarburos aromáticos policíclicos (HAP) que son potencialmente cancerígenos.
• Décadas de planes para remediación o nuevos usos recreativos del Canal Colateral no han llevado a la limpieza del sitio.
• La población de jóvenes y adultos mayores de South Lawndale (37% de la comunidad) está en riesgo de problemas de salud cerca del Canal Collateral.
• El gas sulfuro de hidrógeno del Canal Colateral puede afectar la salud de residentes, con el 66% de los encuestados reportando problemas de salud por olores en el área.
• Más de la mitad de los encuestados no permanecieron afuera en el área alrededor del Canal Colateral durante el tiempo que quisieron debido a los olores.

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Water & Health In Little Village 2.0: An Environmental Justice Study

This collaborative study compares health and water-related conditions in Little Village to the Near North Side, and to Chicago city-wide. Chicago neighborhood data is reported by “community area”: 77 areas with defined boundaries that can include one or more neighborhoods. Little Village is within the South Lawndale community area. After reviewing health and water data all 77 community areas, the Near North Side community area was selected for comparison to South Lawndale, to illustrate the stark differences that exist between Chicago’s neighborhoods.

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Little Village Economic and Public Health Analysis

January 2022
Feliciano Ocegueda, LVEJO and Brenda Santoyo, LVEJO

The South Lawndale community has been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. With case numbers and deaths that rank among the highest in the City of Chicago, residents of South Lawndale have faced the negative effects of pandemic as an exacerbation of existing economic and public health inequities.

To better understand and address these inequities, this report aims to identify both the key issues faced by residents on these fronts and delineate the policy implications. The successes and shortcomings of policies enacted during the pandemic can serve as data points for future advocacy efforts.

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Water & Health in Little Village: An Environmental Justice Study

November 2020
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and Center for Neighborhood Technology
Contributing Authors: Cyatharine Alias, CNT; Brenda Santoyo, LVEJO; Preeti Shankar, CNT; Marcella Bondie Keenan, CNT; Jeremiah Muhammad, LVEJO; Juliana Pino, LVEJO

Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) and Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) have partnered together to explore the cumulative burden of COVID-19, lack of access to drinking water, and urban flooding, in the Little Village neighborhood, an environmental justice community.

LVEJO and CNT are collaborating on a study to better understand the impacts of drinking water, urban flooding and COVID-19 on Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. The co-written report highlights the disparity in environmental and health burdens experienced by Little Village, and provides policy recommendations developed by LVEJO.

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SELECT BLOG POSTS

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Three Lessons on How Communities Can Support the Struggle for Water Justice

September 2022
Brenda Santoyo, LVEJO and Jeremiah Muhammad, LVEJO

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Blog

Access to clean, safe water is a basic human right—a right we strive to protect in our Chicago neighborhood. These important lessons we’ve learned along the way may help other communities facing similar challenges.

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Authentic Collaboration: Critical to Equitable Outcomes

January 2022
Nancy Meza, LVEJO and Cyatharine Alias, CNT

Center for Neighborhood Technology Blog

Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), an environmental justice (EJ) organization based in the Little Village neighborhood, and Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), a research and data analytic planning organization in Chicago, are creating a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 101 Toolkit for EJ organizations to help them conduct basic mapping and analysis. Throughout toolkit development, the Milwaukee-based EJ organization Milwaukee Water Commons (MWC) is testing to ensure clarity, quality, and relatability of the text by using it to guide the mapping of priority areas for their Branch Out Milwaukee Campaign, which aims to increase urban tree canopy. Each organization has committed to using an authentic collaboration approach to this work to develop a community-informed and beneficial product.

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Chicagoland Latinx Communities Face Barriers to Water Access

September 2020
Brenda Santoyo, LVEJO and Jeremy Orr, NRDC

Natural Resources Defense Council Blog

Access to clean, safe, affordable water is a human right. And this pandemic has shown us that this human right can be the difference between life and death—especially for already overburdened communities. An inability to keep up with the rising costs of water over the last decade has often led to water shutoffs in homes throughout the Greater Chicagoland area. During a pandemic, a lack of running water continues to prevent Chicagoans from practicing proper handwashing, safe social distancing, and cleaning and disinfecting, putting more vulnerable communities at greater health risks than others.

SELECT MEDIA

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Revealed: the ‘shocking’ levels of toxic lead in Chicago tap water

Tests performed for thousands of Chicago residents found lead, a neurotoxic metal, in amounts far exceeding the federal standards

September 2022
Erin McCormick, Aliya Uteuova and Taylor Moore with photographs by Jamie Kelter Davis for the Guardian UK | quote from Brenda Santoyo, LVEJO

“One in 20 tap water tests performed for thousands of Chicago residents found lead, a neurotoxic metal, at or above US government limits, according to a Guardian analysis of a City of Chicago data trove.

And one-third had more lead than is permitted in bottled water.

This means that out of the 24,000 tests, approximately 1,000 homes had lead exceeding federal standards. Experts and locals say these results raise broader concerns, because there are an estimated 400,000 lead pipes supplying water to homes in the city, and the vast majority were not tested as part of the program.

Moreover, they say the city is not moving fast enough to eliminate the potential danger.”

“‘It seems like the city doesn’t have the political will to push this program forward,’ said Brenda Santoyo, senior policy analyst for the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, which represents a neighborhood where a high number of the mostly Latino residents have lead service lines. The Guardian’s analysis found that, in Little Village, 4% of tests were above the EPA limit, while 30% were above allowable levels for bottled water.”

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Lead, rising water bills are twin disasters for Chicago’s low-income families | Op Ed, Crain’s Chicago Business

The city should continue its moratorium on shut-offs and work with communities so water access doesn’t become a destructive debt.

September 2019
Juliana Pino, LVEJO

Access to clean, affordable water is essential for life—and a human right. Despite this, thousands of households across Chicago face the twin crises of unaffordability and brain-damaging lead when it comes to their drinking water. […] Environmental justice requires bold work by the city and state to accept the consequences of harm to the public’s health and economic well-being as a result of their own laws and policies, and to work in collaboration with communities to change the status quo.