A tip from a longtime source led climate reporter Mike Phillis to dig into the quality of water at mobile home parks around the U.S. The result was a months-long investigation that found residents suffer from unclean and unsafe water at a higher rate — sometimes a much higher rate — than other Americans.
Data reporter Mary Katherine Wildeman analyzed five years of Safe Drinking Water Act violations in an EPA database for initial findings. But more work was required when she and Phillis realized many parks weren’t included in the dataset.
Joined by Travis Loller, Phillis and Wildeman contacted officials from every state to understand how parks were regulated, if at all. They found that in most states, regulators often ignored water problems on private property. That meant the problem was almost certainly worse than the figures showed. Residents were often fearful of talking, worrying about retribution or eviction.
Jae C. Hong and Dorany Pineda contributed a photo essay from a California mobile home park where the discovery of arsenic had made residents mistrustful, even after the problem was cleaned up. Brittany Peterson produced a video piece that focused on one mobile home park resident turned activist. Wildeman created a graphic, and Peter Hamlin contributed two illustrations that helped readers visualize the problem. Carlos Osorio contributed photos from Michigan.
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