I'm Afraid of That Water

A Collaborative Ethnography of a West Virginia Water Crisis

Paperback, 240 pages

English language

Published April 1, 2020 by West Virginia University Press.

ISBN:
9781949199369

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On January 9, 2014, residents across Charleston, West Virginia, awoke to an unusual licorice smell in the air and a similar taste in the public drinking water. That evening residents were informed the tap water in tens of thousands of homes, hundreds of businesses, and dozens of schools and hospitals—the water made available to as many as 300,000 citizens in a nine-county region—had been contaminated with a chemical used for cleaning crushed coal.

This book tells a particular set of stories about that chemical spill and its aftermath, an unfolding water crisis that would lead to months, even years, of fear and distrust. It is both oral history and collaborative ethnography, jointly conceptualized, researched, and written by people—more than fifty in all—across various positions in academia and local communities. I’m Afraid of That Water foregrounds the ongoing concerns of West Virginians (and people in comparable situations in places like Flint, …

2 editions

Subjects

  • Drinking water -- Contamination -- West Virginia -- Charleston
  • Chemical spills -- West Virginia -- Charleston
  • Coal preparation plants -- West Virginia -- Charleston
  • Disaster victims -- West Virginia -- Charleston -- Interviews

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