In the book Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, the authors spend a lot of time presenting statistics as proof of racism. Anyone familiar with statistics is also familiar with the saying “there’s lies, there’s damn lies, and then there’s statistics.” That doesn’t mean statistics always lie. To the contrary, valuable information can be gleaned from statistics. The problem is statistics never tell the whole story. As such, too much reliance on them is almost always a mistake.
In chapter VII of the book, the authors state the following:
There you go. White people are intentionally exposing blacks to environmental danger by placing sewage plants in their neighborhoods. This is apparently what their statistics tell them and therefore it must be racism.
I fought the law and the law won – Sonny Curtis
First we must consider the most immutable law in sewage treatment – shit flows downhill. This is the most significant factor that influences where sewage plants are built. Generally speaking, you always want to build your plant at the lowest possible elevation so that sewage flows to it freely without the need to pump it. This is not always possible since something else might have already been built in that spot but it is the singularly common plan of attack when choosing your plant’s location.
Where is the lowest point? Generally speaking it’s in the center of the valley down by the river or creek or lake. What else is found down by the waterfront? The oldest section of town. It was very common for communities to start right next to a water source. It’s not only a source of fresh water but it could possibly be a transportation source.
Do you put your sewage plant in the middle of downtown? No. You put it a little further downstream, usually in the woods all by itself. In fact, most sewage plants are built in isolated locations.
These locations don’t stay isolated. Cities grow and builders prefer to build their houses as inexpensively as possible. Sewage lines are expensive, especially the large trunk lines. The sewage line that runs from downtown out to the sewage plant is the largest trunk line in most systems. Since it’s already built, no further construction is required. This is a convenient place to build new homes. It is common for sewage plant to be built well before the houses close to it are even considered.
What are you doing in my swamp? – Shrek
Second, sewage plants are expensive. It is common for these plants to cost three to ten times as much as the water plants built by the same community. To save money, sewage plants are generally built on the cheapest property that can be found.
Since they’re generally built next to rivers, this often means they’re built in boggy areas that are normally avoided. Or at least it used to be done this way before wetlands protection came along. Even with that legislation, exceptions are sometimes made for sewage plants depending on how urgently they’re needed since they exist for the specific purpose of protecting the environment. Now that the swamp has a sewage plant and that big trunk line, property that would have been ignored before is now a valuable place to build homes.
Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans – John Lennon
Third, generally speaking, water and sewage plants are designed for a minimum lifespan of fifty years. Many plants are around much longer and still other plants are expanded at some point with the expectation of a 50+ year lifespan over and above however long the plant has already been in use.
Sewage plants are persistent. Neighborhoods change. The average American moves around a dozen times in their life. Neighborhoods that were mostly of one race may see more of another race move in. Down the road it can reverse.
Even if more blacks live near sewage plants these days it’s likely that at some point more whites lived near sewage plants. It’s also possible that people may live near a sewage plant and not even realize what it is. People are often confused about whether that nearby plant treats water or sewage. In some cases, they may not even realize it’s a treatment plant at all.
This façade…
Hides this sewage plant.
This is the Johns Creek Environmental Campus. The building bottom center is a training facility that regularly puts on programs for local school children. The grounds surrounding the building are also used for teaching purposes. Take a look at the many amazing pictures from this sewage plant/training center in the link below.
There is nothing final about a mistake, except its being taken as final - Phyllis Bottome
What have we learned? The most significant factor in determining the location of a sewage plant is gravity. Even so, sewage plants tend to be built in isolation on inexpensive property. And while neighborhoods will naturally crop up near sewage plants, those neighborhoods are subject to change over a plant's extended lifespan.
Could racism enter into it? There can be racism in anything. To say otherwise would be ridiculous. But the likelihood of going against such restrictive requirements for any outside purpose is unlikely. Sewage plants are the single largest expenditure by far for most local governments. Wasting tax payer dollars on such a scale is political suicide and even racists prefer not to slit their own throats.
I have complete faith in the continued absurdity of whatever's going on - Jon Stewart
I have been in the water/wastewater industry for over forty years. I have approved dozens of water/wastewater project designs including a handful of full sized sewage plants. I was part of the design team on several projects including one full sized plant. I was part of the finance/property acquisition team for that project. I have operated and managed over a dozen plants and dozens of pumping stations. I regularly visit other plants and have seen well over a hundred during my career. I am a lifetime member of my professional association, served on four different committees, and inspected facilities for consideration for the Plant of the Year award. I taught at the Georgia Water Wastewater Institute. Sewage treatment is my bailiwick.
I can state unequivocally that when it comes to where sewage treatment plants are built and the reasons for choosing those locations, the authors of critical race theory haven't got a clue what they're talking about. Considering how mistaken they are about this topic, there is every reason to believe they are just as mistaken about all the other topics they bring up as examples of racism.
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra - Jimmy Johnson
The question has been answered but I thought I would take some time to share my experiences in the business in relation to the topic of this answer. Please note that I live in Georgia, a state in which 32.6% of the population is black. That being the case there is plenty of opportunity for sewage plants to be in black neighborhoods.
I have worked at a dozen sewage plants. Three were surrounded by industry. One was behind a landfill. Two were on a military base. Two were in trailer parks with mixed populations. Two were built in isolation but had housing built later, one white neighborhood, one black. One was simply isolated. One was built in the middle of a white neighborhood.
Of these twelve plants, only one was near a black community which didn't develop until after the plant was built. The only facility built near an existing neighborhood was located in a white community. As for the 100+ plants I've visited during my career, most were isolated. Those that weren't isolated were generally near industry. Of the few that were near homes, who lived in those homes was not readily apparent.
I realize the above is one man's experience. However, as the description of my career illustrates, I wasn't your average sewage plant employee. The range of my involvement in the industry provides me with a much greater volume of information to use to assess this issue.
This is a repost of an article I originally published on Quora in June of 2021. It was an unusual post for me because I prefer to focus on subjects I know a lot about. In this way I avoid the necessity of research, or at least it can be kept to a minimum. In this case, research was required. The only thing I knew about CRT was the talking points of those both for and against. I tend not to trust talking points. That’s why I read the book.
I really shouldn’t avoid research. Even on topics I’m familiar with, the fresh intake of material helps provide focus, reminds me of significant details, and occasionally presents me with something new and interesting. In the end, my researched content always feels more solid. This one turned out especially well which is why I decided to share it here.
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