Public Drinking Water System Coverage and Its Discontents: The Prevalence and Severity of Water Access Problems in California's Mobile Home Parks

Abstract

Abstract

Existing evidence regarding drinking water access and environmental service access more broadly suggests that service provision is substandard in mobile home parks (MHPs). Insufficient water access conditions are particularly troubling given that a substantial proportion of the population resides in MHPs. There have been few targeted studies on environmental service conditions, much less water access conditions within parks. To address this paucity in the literature, we combine a range of data sources to provide the richest analysis to date of water access across a substantive sample of MHPs. We find that the state's MHPs are no less likely to be served by publicly regulated community water systems than other types of housing settlements, but that MHP systems are much more likely to be small, a characteristic well documented to diminish access. In fact, MHP systems represent 13% of all state systems, despite parks housing around 3% of the state's population. We then evaluate drinking water service to MHP systems by the stated dimensions of California's Human Right to Water. Water access disparities identified in a content analysis of 1300 news stories allow us to qualitatively illustrate the severity of substandard access—quality, reliability, and affordability—in parks. These findings are supported by an analysis of state-level data from a range of administrative sources. MHP systems are more likely to incur more health-related violations than other systems. They are also four times more likely to experience a significant service shutoff and 40% more likely to rely on groundwater. The evidence on affordability is less conclusive.