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Date Available
5-1-2028
Year of Publication
2026
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
History
Faculty
Tracy Campbell
Faculty
Kathryn Newfont
Faculty
Hillary Jones
Abstract
This project outlines the history of Kentucky’s attempts to address water pollution, largely caused by coal mining methods and the population explosions resulting from industrial expansion in the state, from 1919 to 1962. Water pollution had been a state recognized problem in Kentucky since the early 1920s, but waves of attempts to address the issue failed to fix fundamental problems and conflicts as economic wealth was chosen over environmental health time and time again in Kentucky and national history. Pollution increases snowballed every single year, while attempts to curb that pollution varied in their staying power and effectiveness and consequently failed to “fix” the roots of pollution stemming from conditions in Appalachian Kentucky. New agencies formed to protect the state’s waterways, such as the Bureau of Sanitary Engineering and the Kentucky Water Pollution Control Commission, were alternately underfunded, incapable, or downright protective of industrial water uses despite their charges. These agencies form the historical roots of modern water inequalities. Roots that continued to grow into the 1960s and 1970s, while shaping the health, affordability, and environment of Kentuckians along state rivers. Appalachian Kentucky transformed from a land of water ‘plenty’ to water scarcity via these decisions.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2026.223
Archival?
Archival
Funding Information
University of Kentucky: Department of History - Robert Lipman Fellowship, 2022-2023.
University of Kentucky: Department of History - Dorothy Leathers and George Herring Graduate Award, 2025
University of Kentucky: Appalachian Center - James S. Brown Graduate Student Award for Research on Appalachia, 2025
Recommended Citation
D'Amato, Riccardo Paolo, "UNEVEN WATER: THE POLLUTION AND SOLUTIONS OF WATER IN APPALACHIAN KENTUCKY, 1919-1962" (2026). Theses and Dissertations--History. 95.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/history_etds/95
Included in
Appalachian Studies Commons, Environmental Law Commons, Environmental Public Health Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Hydraulic Engineering Commons, Political History Commons, Social Justice Commons, Water Law Commons
