‘The lack of translation is a problem’: Non-English speakers are scrambling for information about the city’s water supply

As everyone waits for updates from the city on Philadelphia’s water supply, one group of people has so far been left behind: The more than 350,000 people in Philly who speak a language other than English.

Some updates and guidance on the city’s website have been translated to Spanish and, according to a city spokesperson, “several communication materials related to the chemical spill” have been translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Korean. Still, many non-English speaking community members have had to rely on information shared among themselves and through group chats, and sometimes the information gets mangled.

”There’s a lot of people circulating information. Some are circulating the right information, some actually really did not relay the [full] message,” said Ping Lee, a program manager with the Chinatown Community Development Corp.

Lee said some Chinese speakers, for instance, had heard that the water had been contaminated, but did not understand that the city’s water is now considered safe through 3:30 Tuesday afternoon.

“It did create some panic,” she said.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia water: What we know and don’t know after Delaware River latex spill

Some community groups are taking it upon themselves to translate and share the latest information about the water supply to their community members. And although these groups do the best they can, they wish they didn’t have to be intermediaries.

“There is a lot of confusion. It is clear, given how basic some [people’s] questions are, that the lack of translation is a problem and people are not really understanding what is going on,” said Oni Richards, the executive director of the African Family Health Organization (AFAHO), a nonprofit working with African and Caribbean immigrants in the Philadelphia area.

“The city is committed to language access and recognizes its importance, especially, during health and public safety issues,” said the city spokesperson, mentioning that media briefings related to the water supply have included Spanish and ASL interpreters.

Richards said that AFAHO has been answering questions across several languages, such as whether it will be safe to shower or wash clothes, or whether water that has been filtered is OK to drink.

“Like we saw with COVID, the city has dropped the ball in terms of communicating with low-literate and limited-English-proficient communities,” she said.

» READ MORE: Philly water is safe to drink until at least tonight after Delaware River spill, officials say

”It’s disappointing, and hopefully something that can be remedied,” said Will Gonzalez, the executive director of Ceiba, a coalition of Latino community organizations.

“I think [that] the information is rapidly changing,” he said, hesitant about putting out formal updates and translations for Spanish speakers from Ceiba. “So what is the next thing? It’s kind of [an] unreliable [situation] and we could lose credibility ourselves.”

Philadelphia is not alone in its struggles to quickly get information out in multiple languages during emergency situations. In New York, officials pressed for information updates following Hurricane Ida last year to be provided in languages other than English and Spanish. And the Federal Communications Commission has recently advocated for the use of multilingual emergency alerts.

However, some cities are already more prepared to anticipate the needs of non-English speakers in critical situations. Gonzalez pointed to Boston as an example, where the city provided COVID-19 text updates in 11 languages. He believed that although translating for friends and family and other community members is certainly helpful, it means something different to hear information directly from authorities and experts.

”One thing is to hear it directly and the other [is] to hear it through tertiary sources,” he said.

“It should be official, in this age of misinformation and disinformation.”