Failing septic systems in Lowndes County, Alabama: citizen participation, science, and community knowledge

The United Nations has estimated that 2.8 million individuals across the world will not have access to safely managed sanitation in 2030. In the accounting of global sanitation access, local inequities often are invisible to those counting, especially given that many of these counters are physically distant and often external to communities suffering from lack of access. Lowndes County, Alabama, a predominantly-Black county in rural Alabama (USA), provides a window into the social, racial, and environmental injustices that are present in the rural American South. Our survey of household sanitation access in Lowndes County, implemented by a collaboration of an academic institution, a local environmental justice organisation, and residents, shows that community members in the county are aware of the problems associated with failing septic systems. Producing data that can make publicly visible the lack of access to sanitation will, however, remain a challenge until institutional and structural barriers are overcome.