Our Client

Lowndes County, Alabama is not the only rural location experiencing sanitation issues. About 46.2 million people, or 15 percent of the U.S. population, reside in rural counties, which spread across 72 percent of the nation's land area. It will become increasingly important to develop and implement strategies to address climate change, as populations move inland to rural areas away from the coast. In many counties across the US including Lowndes County, Alabama there has been limited or no investment in finding suitable onsite wastewater technologies that might also reuse or recycle water. 

Many of these rural communities also face compounding air, water, and soil contamination from additional polluting sources such as agriculture, transportation, and manufacturing. In places like Cancer Alley in Louisiana and Allensworth, California, this pollution continues to tear through marginalized rural communities with little to no acknowledgement, scrutiny, or mitigation, leaving rural residents suffering from significant health impacts. In many cases, these communities are under-resourced and have been disenfranchised to the point where severe contamination issues have largely gone unaddressed. These marginalized rural communities are the clients CREEJ aims to work with and support. 

The map below is from the United States Census Bureau. All areas in purple are considered rural. The areas with stars depict communities CREEJ currently is the most active in partnering with. These areas are Lowndes County, Alabama, Cancer Alley, Louisiana, and Allensworth, CA. CREEJ plans to grow its base of active community partners from three in 2019 to at least eight in 2022. In addition to working with specific community partners, CREEJ strategies are designed to scale and create widespread influence across policy, technology, and research platforms.