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Dissertation Proposal Defense - Environmental Science and Policy

Sep 30, 2025, 3:30 - 5:30 PM

Virtual on Zoom - registration is required: https://tinyurl.com/3a9kpt5d

PhD Dissertation Proposal Defense
Department of Environmental Science and Policy
College of Science
George Mason University

 

Candidate: Charles W. Sterling III
Defense Date and Time: September 30th @ 3:30 pm
Defense Location: Virtual - registration required at https://tinyurl.com/3a9kpt5d
Title: THE IMPACT OF AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION ON DRINKING WATER ACCESS

Dissertation Director: Dann Sklarew
Committee: K L Akerlof, Rutledge Dennis, Levi Van Sant

  

ABSTRACT

 

Safe drinking water is recognized globally as a human right. Marginalized groups are often denied access to this resource. This dissertation will examine how racial housing segregation influences access to safe drinking water and the policies that create and sustain these inequalities. Two research studies will be used to examine this phenomenon: an analysis of the lasting effect of urban segregation from 1940 to 2020on water access in American cities over 90 years from 1940 to 2020. The second aims to identify the impact of drinking water segregation via municipal underbounding of public water in rural Virginia.

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