Health Disparities Arising from Inequitable Access to Water and Sanitation Systems in Developed Countries

Dear Colleagues,

The U.S. decision not to ratify the 2010 United Nations declaration that water and sanitation are essential human rights reflects a common misconception that U.S. water and sanitation problems were solved in the twentieth century.  In reality, tens of millions of Americans—primarily people of color and/or low-income communities—lack safe, affordable drinking water and sanitation systems.  Approximately 21 million rely on water systems violating health-based standards. Another 24 million get their water from contaminated, unregulated private wells.  Tens of millions dispose of their sewage through inadequate on-site systems or lack on-site sanitation systems altogether.  Nearly 40 million cannot afford their water and sewer bills.   Similar problems exist in other developed nations.

This special issue focuses on documenting water and sanitation disparities in developed nations and on potential technical, legal, and policy solutions to eliminate these disparities.  New research papers, reviews, case reports and conference papers are welcome to this issue. Papers dealing with new approaches to quantify health impacts of water and sanitation disparities also are welcome. Other manuscript types accepted include methodological papers, position papers, brief reports, and commentaries.

We will accept manuscripts from different disciplines including environmental engineering and science, epidemiology, law, economics, public policy, and any other discipline offering methods to document and eliminate disparities in water and sanitation access in the United States.

Prof. Dr. Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• drinking water
• sanitation
• sewerage
• private wells
• septic systems
• health disparities