Flooding has become a common occurrence in the East Houston neighborhood where ecologist Jessica Díaz Vázquez grew up. When the water rises, she and other residents of this predominantly Latinx community wonder whether pollutants from nearby petrochemical plants are coming with it. “You don’t want to go near [the water] because you really just don’t know what could be in it,” said Vázquez, who is now a fellow at NOAA. Hers isn’t the only community wondering what’s in its water. According to a new study published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, lakes in communities where more than a quarter of residents are Hispanic or people of color are 3 times less likely to have been monitored for water quality than lakes in predominantly white, non-Hispanic areas of the United States.