Water stays in the pipes longer in shrinking cities — a challenge for public health

Source: Nancy Love, Richard Jackson, & Shawn McElmurray; Salon

The geographic locations where Americans live are shifting in ways that can negatively affect the quality of their drinking water.

Cities that experience long-term, persistent population decline are called shrinking cities. Although shrinking cities exist across the U.S., they are concentrated in the American Rust Belt and Northeast. Urban shrinkage can be bad for drinking water in two ways: through aging infrastructure and reduced water demand.