Publications & Reports

Authors: Katie Meehan

Water service shutoffs are cast as a vital ‘tool’ for water utility governance in the USA; yet their growing use raises questions about the welfare state and life-affirming infrastructure provision. This article uses water shutoffs—arguably the evictions of the water world—as a prism to examine the extension of carceral power in the sphere of social reproduction. In analyzing shutoff practices in US cities, the article finds that household water access is increasingly weaponized as a ‘police structure’ to preserve a model of debt-driven water management, in ways that also produce a spatial and racial division of nature.

Authors: Katie Meehan | Jason R. Jurjevich | Alison Griswold | Nicholas M.J.W. Chun | Justin Sherrill

An open-access research report on emerging trends and persistent gaps in household water access in 15 major US metros from 2000 to 2017. The study identified racialized disparities, compared trends between cities over two decades, and pointed to worsening conditions for urban dwellers, especially renters. Profiled three case studies: San Francisco, CA, Phoenix, AZ, and Milwaukee, WI.

Authors: Katie Meehan | Jason R. Jurjevich | Nicholas M.J.W. Chun | Justin Sherrill

Published in PNAS, we introduced the ‘housing-water nexus’ in the first study of household water access in the 50 largest US cities. In 2017, households without running water were more likely to be headed by people of color, earn lower incomes, rent their residence, and pay a higher share of income toward housing costs. We established that gaps in urban water provision are underpinned by precarious housing conditions and systemic racial inequality.

Authors: Shiloh Deitz | Katie Meehan

The flagship article of the Plumbing Poverty project, published in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers. We introduced the concept and methodology of plumbing poverty to examine the intersectional nature of infrastructure, space, and social inequality. In analyzing millions of household microdata records, we identified hot spots of plumbing poverty across the USA, tracked its social and spatial variance, and exposed its racialized nature.