The Problem is Clear: The Water is Filthy

            The Problem Is Clear: The Water Is Filthy by Patricia Brown tells the story of many small communities in California who lack clean water, most notably the town of Seville. Brown’s article combines emotion and fact.  She appeals to the feelings of her audience by describing local children who from an early age learn the phrase, “Don’t drink the water!” Brown describes the town with vivid images. She gains sympathy for Seville as she details how hard it is for children, the elderly and the disabled to live in a town without clean water. Direct quotations from residents add personal impact to the article. For example, one resident says, “You can’t smell it.. You can’t see it,” which helps dramatize the desperate situation millions of people in California face. Brown quotes single mothers who wake up at four in the morning to pick grapefruit but who worry most about finding water. The author also adds data to her emotional appeal in order to prove that her article is reliable and not a fabrication. She explains that “the state is allocating $4 million for interim solutions.” Brown does not simply explain the problem of nitrate contamination and demand that something be done. She also proposes upstream reservoirs as a solution to the problem. The emotional article ends with a quote in which a woman states: “It’s [water] something so simple in life. And it’s gone.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/us/tainted-water-in-california-farmworker-communities.html