“It wasn’t a matter of whether these systems would fail, but when.”

 

Investigation: How Lax EPA Oversight Enabled Jackson’s Water Crisis

(Illustration: Renzo Velez / POGO; Photos: Getty Images) On July 29, 2022, some 160,000 residents of the Jackson, Mississippi, area began a harrowing 48-day ordeal. A boil water notice warned that tap water from the city’s system might contain organisms that cause nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and headaches. And for several weeks during that period, sweeping infrastructure failures in part due to flooding, aging pipes and equipment, and inadequate maintenance left thousands of people without water to drink, bathe in, cook with, or flush their toilet. Meanwhile, the federal dollars flowing to Jackson through its state government were scarcely a trickle compared to what was needed. Read the investigation on pogo.org. Contribute

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