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When Jamika Jones was pregnant with her son earlier this year, her mother worried about her drinking water from the tap. Jones lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where of the water-service lines contain lead; when those pipes corrode, they can release the into the water flowing through them. 

Lead exposure has been linked to for miscarriage; pregnancy complications, such as ; premature birth; low birth weights; and cognitive and behavioral disorders, among other ailments. 

鈥淭he possibility of the water being contaminated became a big concern for me,鈥� Jones said.

Her mother connected her with volunteers from the Clean Water for Pregnant People (CWPP) , who soon delivered six cases of canned water and scheduled a second drop-off. The water brought an immediate sense of relief, Jones said.

鈥淚t took care of my family and I for a while,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淭hey even supplied me after I had my son. I was able to cook with it. I was able to feed him with that water.鈥�

Millions of Americans are to water systems that violate quality standards and the. According to a , more than 25 million people in the United States drink from water systems that have repeatedly violated federal standards. That year, more than had at least one violation, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

This is due to aging , strained community finances, and contamination from corroding lead pipes, fertilizers, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and other pollutants. 

Environmental justice is a key part of reproductive justice.

Jade Sasser

A of those exposed are from Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. Further, a legacy of disinvestment in historically Black communities contributes to an existing maternal health crisis: Black mothers suffer higher rates of and and are more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white mothers. 

Environmental justice and reproductive justice groups across the country are pushing for investments to bring safe drinking water to cities like Milwaukee; Flint, Michigan; and Jackson, Mississippi. Many activists say the risk that lead and other contaminants pose to pregnant people and small children is too urgent to wait for infrastructure upgrades, so they are bringing water door to door.

鈥淲hen people reduce reproductive justice to only questions about having babies or not, it completely sidesteps this responsibility to create communities in which children don鈥檛 have to deal with ongoing toxic exposures through the land, air, and water,鈥� said , an associate professor at the University of California, Riverside.

Environmental justice is a key part of reproductive justice, Sasser said. The right to parent children in a safe environment is threatened in communities where an act as essential as drinking water is imperiled, she added.

In Milwaukee County, 5.6% of children under 5 for lead poisoning in 2020, the national average. Sources of lead exposure can include paint, leaded household dust, soil, and drinking water. Nine out of 10 water-sampling sites throughout Milwaukee have lead levels less than 6.2 parts of lead per billion parts of water (ppb), which is less than the EPA鈥檚 of 15 ppb, and service lines in Milwaukee with a corrosion-control method that decreases lead levels. 

Still, there is no safe level of lead in water鈥攁nd Milwaukeeans like Jones want to take precautions to avoid any risks.

CWPP, part of a broader group called , has delivered 3,000 gallons of water to more than 50 households, including Jones鈥�. The water was initially donated by the charity ; volunteers recently installed an advanced filtration system at a local church, which is where they now source donations.

鈥淎s a parent, lead toxicity was something I was cognizant of before being a part of this group,鈥� said Jason Geils, a volunteer with CWPP. Geils said he has an adult son with special needs; at the time of his son鈥檚 diagnosis, he worried lead exposure may have contributed to his health problems.

Milwaukee is replacing lead water-service lines to homes at a rate of around 1,000 lines per year. At that rate, it would take 70 years to replace all the city鈥檚 lead pipes, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at a conference in September, calling the timeline 鈥渦nacceptable鈥� and blaming a lack of adequate funding.

The CWPP program was created, in part, because organizers felt the city was responding too slowly to the crisis. 鈥淭his initiative was done to have an immediate impact,鈥� Geils said.

In 2021, the Biden administration it would replace every lead pipe in the country, and in June it that more than $4 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds and annual appropriations could be used toward the goal.

But it鈥檚 not just lead contamination that puts pregnant people at risk.

In Jackson, Mississippi, residents were put under a boil water notice in July after turbid water started flowing from the city鈥檚 taps. The next month, a major storm paralyzed a water-treatment plant, leaving the majority-Black city鈥檚 150,000 residents without safe drinking water. 

Parents scrambled to access limited supplies of bottled water; officials to use bottled water鈥攏ot boiled water鈥攖o prepare baby formula. 

Jackson鈥檚 water crisis drew comparisons to Flint, Michigan, where residents became sick soon after officials began sourcing water from the notoriously polluted Flint River. The percentage of children with elevated blood lead levels in the year . Fertility rates decreased and fetal death rates increased during the period in which residents were largely unaware of the amount of lead in their water, suggests a . 

More Americans lack access to clean water than many realize, said , an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. What makes headlines represents a small slice of the issue. 

鈥淲e get these snippets of stories that highlight what are really tip-of-the-iceberg moments,鈥� James-Todd said. 鈥淵ou see Flint, you see Jackson 鈥� but there are many more situations where people don鈥檛 have access to clean water.鈥� For example, an estimated of tribal homes lack access to clean water. 

In Chicago, community groups are responding to that city鈥檚 water crisis with direct aid鈥攁nd advocacy. A recent analysis of tap water by The Guardian revealed 鈥溾�� levels of lead in city tap water: 1 in 20 taps released water with the neurotoxin. 

Organizers with (LVEJO) have passed out water bottles and filters to residents coping with and fears of lead contamination. Brenda Santoyo, senior policy analyst at LVEJO, said the city鈥檚 own water-distribution process could be more accessible. She has public officials to prioritize distributing water filters to at-risk populations first鈥攑regnant people and children. Santoyo also on a lead service line replacement advisory board organized by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency; in 2021, she was part of a successful effort to pass mandating the removal of all lead service lines, with a timeline of up to 50 years for completion.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has vowed to replace lead lines in the homes of low-income residents, but advocates say the program is . 

鈥淭he pace [in Chicago] is really glacial,鈥� said , director of the Safe Water Initiative at the Natural Resources Defense Council. 鈥淎t the current rate, it鈥檚 not only going to take beyond 50 years鈥攚hich is required by law鈥攂ut will likely take significantly longer.鈥�

The issue of water safety across the country is further complicated by 鈥渇laws in our policies and the way that we determine what鈥檚 safe,鈥� Guyadeen said. Water systems may meet EPA standards, but contaminant levels below legal limits can still impact health. 

Hanging over all of this, of course, is last year鈥檚 reversal of Roe v. Wade. Most abortions are now banned in , including Wisconsin and Mississippi.

Many people harmed by environmental racism are those who now lack access to abortion, said , the director for reproductive health and rights at the National Partnership for Women & Families.

鈥淧eople who live in communities harmed by lack of access to clean water are keenly aware of the health consequences that has on their lives,鈥� Goodman said. Without access to clean water or reproductive freedom, 鈥渨e鈥檙e basically condemning them to unhealthy pregnancies and reducing the likelihood of good health outcomes for them and their babies.鈥�

This article originally appeared in , an editorially independent, nonprofit news service covering climate change. Follow .