| Summary: | Several high-profile cases of water service interruption have occurred in United States communities over
the last decade, halting the usual operations of water infrastructures. In these situations, governments and NGOs
have created emergency water infrastructures, such as bottled water distribution sites, to meet residents' water
needs. This paper examines the accessibility of such emergency water distribution sites by analysing the case of
Flint, Michigan. Drawing on interviews with community leaders in Flint who administered the city's bottled water
distribution programmes, this paper identifies barriers to access in the city's emergency water infrastructure that
stem from and deepen pre-existing socio-spatial inequality. This research identifies the need for government
emergency preparedness guidance to incorporate a more comprehensive notion of accessibility that considers the
social, political, and economic factors that affect the usability of these sites.
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