評論
打印
For those without it, water amounts to an ongoing crisis.
就缺乏清潔用水的民眾而言，水問題不亞于一場持久的危機。
But no great urgency is felt in Washington, D.C., or in state capitals.
不過，華盛頓特區及各州首府尚未陷入明顯的用水緊迫局勢。
Laws may be out of date, and existing rules ignored,
無論是因為有關法律規定已經過時，還是因為有關方面對現存規定視而不見，
but as an "issue," water seems to sprout up only when a seemingly one-off event like the Flint water crisis captures public attention.
用水問題作為一個問題，似乎只會在惡化到弗林特（鉛）水危機——這一危機看似只是一起獨立事件——這樣的地步，引起了社會轟動時才會引起人們的關注。
But Flint is not a one-off event.
問題是，弗林特危機并不是一起獨立事件。
In Michigan, officials put an entire community at risk to save money, then lost a bet that the risks would go unnoticed.
為了省錢，密歇根官員選擇了拿整個地區民眾的健康做賭注，以為自己能瞞天過海，不想卻陰溝里翻了船。
Similar wagers are placed by politicians and policymakers across the country.
其他地方的政治家和政策制定者也下了類似的賭注。
"Legal standards are often compromises between what the data shows in terms of toxicity and risk, and how much it's going to cost,"
“一邊是數據顯示的毒性和風險，一邊是代價，法律標準往往都是二者折衷的結果，”
says Alexis Temkin, a toxicologist at the Environmental Working Group, a research and advocacy organization.
研究機構兼倡導組織“環境工作小組”毒理學家亞歷克西斯·坦金說道。
The odds are getting worse.
形勢正在朝著惡化的方向發展。
A 2017 report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation's drinking-water infrastructure a rating of D,
2017年，美國土木工程師協會曾在一份報告單里給美國飲用水的基礎設施評了D級，
and assessed that the U.S. needs to invest $1 trillion in the next 25 years for upgrades.
據他們估計，未來25年，美國仍需投資1萬億美元對其進行改善升級。
The alternative is more erosion, not by water but by the damage that occurs in its absence.
否則，情況將會繼續惡化，惡化的原因將不僅不是水太多，反而是因為無水可用。
In Inez, Ky., where the local riverway has been contaminated since 2000 by a giant runoff of coal-mining by-products,
肯塔基州伊內茲的河道自2000年以來一直深受煤礦開采產生的大量外溢的副產品污染，
water bills have skyrocketed, and yet the residents say the problem hasn't been fixed.
當地的水費翻了一番又番，居民們卻表示用水問題并未得到解決。
The tap produces what one resident called "fishy water."
用當地一位居民的話說，水龍頭流出的都是“魚腥味兒的水”。
But local police made news when they arrested a resident for refusing to pay for water.
然而，當地警方以拒絕支付水費為由逮捕某居民一事引起了轟動。
"They've destroyed the waterways to mine coal," says Nina McCoy, an Inez resident.
“他們為了開采煤礦就破壞我們的水路，”伊內茲居民尼娜·麥考伊說道。
"We're all fighting our little fires, and we're not realizing that the fire is coming from above, and it's raining down on us."
“我們大家都在忙著滅火，不成想，火是從上面燒下來的，就像下雨一樣地往下燒。”
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
