Racial disparities in municipal water and sewer access in western North Carolina

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Last Modified
  • June 18, 2020
Creator
  • Gorelick, David
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Curriculum in Environment and Ecology
Abstract
  • In the 21st Century, there is still observable racial division in communities of the southern United States. In North Carolina, though institutional discrimination has long been outlawed, residual segregation in housing patterns persists. Descendants of freed slaves now live in extra-territorial jurisdictions (ETJs) of the small, southern towns their ancestors settled outside of, which are subject to the adjacent municipality’s zoning and land-use statutes but have no political representation. Communities within an ETJ are not guaranteed municipal water or sewer service by a municipality; if not annexed, these areas must rely on wells and septic systems as an alternative. Should septic systems fail and zoning or land use ordinances prevent timely or affordable replacement, local groundwater contamination would pose a threat to public health. To investigate the role of race in access of municipal services by ETJ populations in Burke and Catawba Counties of NC, we apply logistic regression to tax parcel utility and Census demographic and socioeconomic data aggregated using a geographic information systems (GIS) approach. Comparison of regressions at each county and utility pairing revealed complex relationships between census block black population percentage, socioeconomic indicators parcel value and block group median household income, and ETJ block residential housing density. Regression trends agreed at low and median housing density scenarios in both counties but disagree at high housing density in Burke County. Race could play a role in municipal water and sewer service access in Burke and Catawba County ETJs, but the magnitude and direction of impact greatly varies between socioeconomic and housing density scenarios. Specific analysis of the historical urban planning and zoning designations of areas of interest within these ETJs would be more illuminating in determining whether or not these communities still feel the influence of race-based segregation. Future work involving Hispanic or non-white populations, as well as using well or septic utility services as proxies for lack of municipal service, would be of great interest in NC and the South overall.
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  • In Copyright
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  • Funding: None
Advisor
  • MacDonald Gibson, Jacqueline
Degree
  • Bachelor of Science
Honors level
  • Honors
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Graduation year
  • 2015
Language
  • English
Extent
  • 24

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file details Thesis.pdf 2020-06-18 Public Download
file details CatawbaParcelsWithMedianIncome.csv 2019-05-18 Public Download
file details BurkeParcelsWithMedianIncome.csv 2019-05-18 Public Download