Millennials Have No Idea Where Their Water Comes From

But when the responses were broken down by age, the youngest and oldest respondents were less likely to say they were worried about a Flint-like crisis happening close to home.

Only 10 percent of respondents under age 30 said they were “very” concerned about a similar crisis happening in their communities, while 50 percent were “not very” or “not at all” concerned. The only age group that expressed a lower level of concern were respondents over age 65: Only 9 percent of them were “very” concerned,” and 61 percent were “not very” or “not at all” concerned.

Compared to a previous HuffPost/YouGov poll on water issues conducted in late January, most Americans’ opinions about the safety of their tap water haven’t changed much, even as the situation in Flint unfolds and water contamination issues have emerged in other parts of the country.

But overall, respondents did express less confidence that their tap water would remain safe to drink 20 years from now. While 71 percent of respondents said they were at least “somewhat” confident their water was currently safe to drink, only 46 percent believed it would be safe in 20 years. Similarly, while only 25 percent of respondents said they were “not very” or “not at all” confident that their tap water was currently safe to drink, the amount of skeptics rose to 37 percent when respondents were asked about their water 20 years from now.

Responses to the poll also varied based on race. Black respondents were the least likely to report that they knew the source of their tap water. Twenty-eight percent of black respondents also said they were very concerned about a situation like Flint happening in their community, compared to just 14 percent of white respondents.

Research has indicated that minority communities face unequal exposure to environmental health risks like water contamination.