Racial bias did not shape Mississippi’s water funding decisions for capital city, EPA says

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it found “insufficient evidence” that racial discrimination shaped decisions made by two Mississippi agencies about water system funding for the state’s majority-Black capital city of Jackson.

The EPA’s Office of External Civil Rights Compliance issued its findings this week about the investigation it started in October 2022 into the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi State Department of Health.

The EPA announced its probe weeks after the national and state branches of the NAACP and nine Jackson residents filed a complaint alleging the state had a “practice of systematically depriving Jackson the funds that it needs to operate and maintain its water facilities in a safe and reliable manner.”

Jackson’s water system nearly collapsed in late August 2022 after heavy rainfall and flooding exacerbated longstanding problems. Many people in the city of 150,000 lacked water for drinking, flushing or bathing for several weeks. A federally appointed administrator has been in charge of Jackson water since late 2022 and the federal government has approved $600 million for improvements to the city system.

The EPA wrote in its findings Monday that it investigated specific questions, including whether the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality’s funding of water infrastructure and treatment programs is discriminatory.

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