Abstract
The Sunrise Water Authority is a public utility serving the City of Happy Valley and surrounding areas of unincorporated Clackamas County. In general, the customers of Sunrise tend to be relatively affluent (by state and federal household income standards) and predominately white, and non-Hispanic by race and ethnicity. Notwithstanding, there are several vulnerable groups within the service population including low-income households, persons of color, children, seniors, immigrants, disabled, and others. Social equity looks to ensure fair and equitable access to public services for all. Following a framework established by the U.S. Water Alliance (known as the ‘3 Pillars’), a preliminary examination of the role of social equity at Sunrise is made, along with the development of various ways to improve access to important information and services among the utility’s potentially vulnerable populations. This work includes a review of the agency’s demographics and a series of action steps to expand social equity in the management and operation of the utility.
Publication Date
6-12-2024
DOI
10.15760/hgjpa.2024.8.1.8
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/42036
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Zaman, Anis and Hathhorn, Wade
(2024)
"Developing A Social Equity Action Plan: A Pathway Towards Achieving Water Equity in Oregon,"
Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs:
Vol. 8:
Iss.
1, Article 8.
https://doi.org/10.15760/hgjpa.2024.8.1.8
Included in
Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons
