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After Mississippi’s water crisis, the EPA has launched an investigation : NPR


A drop of water flows from the faucet of Mary Gaines, a resident of the Golden Keys Senior Living apartment in her kitchen in Jackson, Miss., September 1, 2022.

Steve Helber / AP


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Steve Helber / AP


A drop of water flows from the faucet of Mary Gaines, a resident of the Golden Keys Senior Living apartment in her kitchen in Jackson, Miss., September 1, 2022.

Steve Helber / AP

Jackson, Miss. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday it was investigating whether Mississippi state agencies discriminated against the state’s black-majority capital city by denying funding. aid in improving its broken water system or not.

The announcement comes days after the leaders of two congressional committees said they were starting a joint investigation into the crisis that left most homes and businesses in Jackson without running water. for several days in late August and early September.

Heavy rainfall in late August exacerbated problems at Jackson’s main water treatment facility. Republican Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency on August 29, and the state department of health and the Mississippi Department of Emergency Management have been overseeing operations and repairs at the facility since.

About 80% of Jackson’s 150,000 residents are Black, and about a quarter of the population lives in poverty. At the time Reeves issued the emergency order, Jacksonians were required for a month to boil their water beforehand to destroy possible contaminants.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson, who now lives in Jackson with his family, called the EPA’s investigation a step in the right direction after years of the state withholding federal funds needed to shut down the city’s water system.

“We believe we have presented compelling evidence that the state of Mississippi intentionally starved the resources to sustain the city of Jackson’s water infrastructure,” Johnson told The Associated Press on Thursday. “We want the EPA and this administration to come up with a roadmap of action to prevent the state of Mississippi from re-offending.”

Johnson was named among several resident complainants in the NAACP’s civil rights complaint against Mississippi. He said the state’s failure to act and document the divestment in Jackson was “systematic negligence.”

“We believe that all citizens of this country should have access to clean and fresh water,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, we live in a state that is still dealing with racial politics. And as a result you have state leaders looking to punish the African-American residents of the city of Jackson. in a very discriminatory way.”

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