Street Roots partnered with Portland State University researchers to include vendors’ voices in a statewide study on perspectives and experiences surrounding water
The Oregon Water Stories Project is an interdisciplinary team of Portland State University researchers investigating Oregonians’ attitudes and beliefs regarding water. Through interviews and surveys of stakeholder groups, this research intends to inform policymakers about Oregonians’ perspectives and experiences surrounding water, especially those of underrepresented and marginalized groups. The inclusion of these voices in decision making is necessary in order to craft equitable water policy.
Street Roots vendors are one group of stakeholders whose perspectives are being included in the Oregon Water Stories Project, or OWS, research project. Given the unique water challenges faced by people experiencing homelessness or poverty, it is particularly important to amplify these perspectives when informing equitable and inclusive water policy.
“When I had insecure housing in grad school,” said Melissa Haeffner, a co-principal investigator of this research project, “I had to schedule my days around hygiene — finding a place to shower, brush my teeth, do laundry — to look ‘presentable.’ It made me realize how fundamental water equity is and how people you see every day are overlooked in water policy.”
Street Roots has proven expertise in amplifying marginalized voices to inform policy involving Portlanders experiencing homelessness. The partnership between Street Roots and OWS focuses this expertise to include people experiencing homelessness in water equity conversations. During the data collection process, Street Roots scheduled the vendors, shared their office space and computers, provided technical support and made sure everyone was social distancing, all while continuing their regular work meeting immediate COVID-19 needs.
Fifteen Street Roots vendors participated in a Q-sort study so that their values on issues related to the safety, health, environment and economics of water can be included among stakeholder groups throughout Oregon. The vendors ranked a set of statements, derived from quotes in Oregon newspapers about water issues, on a scale from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” Their responses were then grouped to understand trends in their water values.
“Q-sort enables us to focus on people’s values through how they talk about issues,” said Janet Cowal, another co-principal investigator on this project. “It’s important to consider language because misunderstandings can occur when individuals have different ways of talking about issues. The same words can mean one thing in one community but mean something else in another community. So, when people express their views on an issue, they might think they don’t agree, when they actually do agree, and vice-versa.”
The survey found that of the 15 vendors surveyed, seven (46.6%) have regular access to running water and seven do not. In addition, nine (60%) of the respondents reported using bottled water as their primary water source.
One vendor explained their concern for the water quality of lower-income Portlanders, speaking from personal experience:
“I myself have lived in many lower income places, and you kinda get used to tasting metal in your water — you’re tasting dirt in your water. … I’ve gone to wash dishes in brown water, because that’s how it came out.”
To improve access to clean water, some vendors believe that citizens should be responsible for acquiring water filters whereas others believe it should be the government’s responsibility. Some vendors thought cities should raise taxes to protect water safety while others did not.
Some vendors agreed that the government should prioritize public water supplies in a crisis.
“We’re in the middle of a crisis right now,” commented one vendor. “Good water right now is essentially important. What would happen if we didn’t have that on top of the coronavirus?”
Some disagreed that it is justified to limit public comment for stream restoration projects if it reduces costs.
“Everybody has a right to make a comment about the stream restoration projects,” said a vendor. “Everybody should be able to talk about that.”
Some agreed that their spiritual or religious beliefs are connected to their concern for water health and disagreed that money should be saved by improving current water systems instead of building new ones.
“Having reliable access to clean water is worth paying for,” said a vendor. “I’m a homeless guy. I don’t have much money, but I pay for good water.”
The results of the Q-sort and interviews provide valuable insight into the water values and experiences of people experiencing homelessness. This survey will be replicated with community partners in every water district in the state in order to compile a diverse demographic of Oregonians’ values and attitudes surrounding water. Understanding the results and trends of the values within these diverse communities will contribute to more effective communication and decision-making by our local policymakers, creating more equitable water policy in the future.
“Any time when we can provide our vendors with opportunities for civic engagement — something folks experiencing poverty and homelessness are often denied — we jump on them,” said Andrew Hogan, deputy director at Street Roots. “Democracy only works when everyone, including the poor, can participate. We were delighted to partner with Oregon Water Stories Project on this survey.”
This project was funded by a Portland State University Community Engagement Research Academy grant, which was applied for collaboratively by Street Roots and the OWS team.
For more information, visit the Oregon Water Stories Project online.
Study snapshot
Each vendor was told to pick one statement they most agreed with, and one statement they most disagreed with.
The statement “It is worth it for industries to pollute water sometimes if they provide good jobs” was the most disagreed statement, with 40% of vendors choosing that statement.
The second-most disagreed with statement was: “I care about the health of our water because of my religious or spiritual beliefs.”
The statement “All people, no matter their income, should have equal access to drinking water” was the most agreed statement, with 27% of vendors choosing that statement.
There was a three-way tie for the second most agreed-with statement. Those statements are: “Lakes should be maintained in their natural state for the good of all,” “The government should make sure public water supplies come first in a crisis,” and “The impacts of climate change on access to water for all people concerns me.”
Sanya Cowal is a senior at Seattle University interning with Oregon Water Stories. She studies Environmental Studies and Public Affairs. Her research interests include environmental advocacy, agroecology and sustainable food systems.
Clare McClellan is a master’s student in environmental management at Portland State University and a researcher with the Oregon Water Stories Project. She is interested in human-natural water systems and equity in environmental management.
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