Water insecurity is a condition when affordability, reliability, adequacy, or safety of water is significantly reduced or unattainable resulting in jeopardized well‐being. Water insecurity co‐occurs with poverty and social and economic exclusion. It is gaining increasing attention from the scholarly community, but most work has focused on low‐ and middle‐income countries. In this article, we explore water insecurity in Appalachian Kentucky. Throughout the Appalachia region, water access and quality are compromised as a result of contamination from extractive industries (such as coal mining) and failure of infrastructure investment. The water problems have been reported by journalists, activists, and social and natural scientists who describe a reliance on discolored, sulfuric, and sometimes toxic water to meet household needs. In this article, we build upon applied anthropology studies of human–environment interaction to answer the exploratory question: “Do patterns about water acquisition and consumption exist in Appalachian Kentucky?” Our methodologies included participant observation and informal go‐along interviews at three sites based on convenience. The results are presented with rich ethnographic description, and reveal that preferences are influenced by the costs of water, the availability of water from different sources (wells, taps, mines, rain capture, etc.), and historic use patterns. We call for a culturally and historically informed approach to understand and measure water insecurity and water improvement efforts in Appalachia. Our ability to characterize water insecurity in low‐resource settings in the United States will allow for better understanding and visibility of the water‐related experiences of marginalized communities and serve as powerful policy inputs.

中文翻译：

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“只要我们有矿山，我们就会有水”：探索阿巴拉契亚的水不安全状况

当水的可负担性，可靠性，充足性或安全性大大降低或无法达到，从而导致福祉受到损害时，水不安全就成为一种状况。水不安全与贫困以及社会和经济排斥并存。它越来越受到学术界的关注，但是大多数工作都集中在中低收入国家。在本文中，我们探讨了阿巴拉契亚肯塔基州的水不安全状况。在整个阿巴拉契亚地区，由于采掘业（例如煤炭开采）的污染和基础设施投资的失败，水的供应和质量受到了损害。记者，活动家以及社会和自然科学家已经报道了水的问题，他们描述了依靠变色的，含硫的，有时是有毒的水来满足家庭需求。在本文中，我们基于人类与环境相互作用的应用人类学研究来回答探索性问题：“阿巴拉契亚肯塔基州是否存在有关取水和取水的模式？” 我们的方法包括在方便的基础上在三个地点进行参与者观察和非正式的走访访谈。结果以丰富的民族志描述呈现，揭示了偏好受到水成本，不同来源（井，水龙头，矿山，雨水收集等）的水利用率以及历史使用模式的影响。我们呼吁以文化和历史为依据的方法来了解和衡量阿巴拉契亚州的水不安全状况和水改善工作。