Congratulations to Mariana Sarango, MPH and Population Health PhD candidate, who successfully defended her dissertation on April 10, 2020. The title is Keeping Our Heads Above Water: Unaffordable Water, Public Health and Equity in the U.S. In three separate studies based on a household survey of nine urban areas, in-depth interviews with low-income householders, and U.S. Census data, Dr. Sarango contributes to our knowledge of the population health impacts of unaffordable water at this critical time when the cost of water services continues to escalate. Considering the limited but suggestive research on racial inequities in access to affordable water, her dissertation also examines how water unaffordability may contribute to well-documented health inequities among racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. Mariana has been a member of SSEHRI and the Water Equity Team (WET) Lab since 2016. Her dissertation committee members are Professors Sharon Harlan (chair), Laura Senier, and Daniel Kim.
