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

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

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 findings this week. The agency started investigating practices of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi State Department of Health in October 2022. The NAACP and nine Jackson residents alleged bias in state funding after Jackson’s water system nearly collapsed that August. A federally appointed administrator has been in charge of Jackson’s water system since late 2022.