'People Are Literally Being Poisoned': How Sewage Problems in Alabama Got So Bad -- and Why Other States Should Worry
Jul 17, 2018 - Discusses the lack of waste disposal infrastructure in Alabama and the discovery that a number of rural residents whose homes are not attached to municipal sewer systems may have tropical diseases. Touches on the barriers to addressing the infrastructure problem, including problems faced by people who do have septic systems or who are attached to the sewer system. Also references other places with similar problems related to waste disposal infrastructure, including Native American reservations, where fewer than half of homes are connected to sewers. What these areas have in common is that they tend to already be poor and populated by members of marginalized groups.
Source: Governing
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Mobile Food Banks Roll to Isolated, Rural Poor
Jul 16, 2018 - Highlights the work of the West Alabama Food Bank's mobile pantry which delivers food to people in nine rural counties in Alabama, many poor, aging, or disabled. With poverty levels higher in rural areas than in urban, food insecurity concentrated in rural areas, and more limited transportation options in rural areas, mobile food pantries are an attempt to bridge the gap.
Source: Stateline, Pew Charitable Trusts
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