In Jackson, Miss., everyday routines can be a challenge. That's what happens when you can't trust your water supply.
MALACHI RICHARDSON: Even if there is still low water pressure - like, I think last time, the water is still brown and...
SUMMERS: That's third grader Malachi Richardson. When heavy rains and flooding effectively shut down the city's main water treatment plant, he and his mom, Kandi Bouldin, had to come up with a new way to bathe.
RICHARDSON: Since we can't use our own shower, we take a birdbath.
BOULDIN: That's what we call them at our house. We call them birdbaths.
SUMMERS: Jackson had been under a boil water notice for weeks before the plant failed. Using just boiled water, cooking, even doing the dishes becomes a grind, says Bouldin.
BOULDIN: That's the most difficult. We've eaten out more this week than we actually can afford to because it's just difficult trying to keep everything clean.
SUMMERS: Jackson schools had to switch to remote learning last week because the toilets wouldn't flush due to low water pressure, exasperating Superintendent Errick Greene.
ERRICK GREENE: This right here, it's almost unbelievable. If I weren't living it and talking about it all freaking day - almost unbelievable.
SUMMERS: But bad water in Jackson has been a reality for decades. Forty-five-year-old Halima Olufemi grew up in the city.
HALIMA OLUFEMI: My big mama and my Jojo (ph) - these are my great-grandmothers and grandmothers - would always have to boil water, so much so that we would buy extra jugs. And they would always pour the water in. At a certain point, the little plastic will start coming out of one jug, so we had to go ahead and fill it. And it was a way of life.
SUMMERS: Olufemi is an activist with the People's Advocacy Institute, and she sees the city's persistent water problems as part of a fraught racial history with a majority Black city led by a Democrat not getting the help it needs from the white Republicans who run the state.
OLUFEMI: I guess when you look at the fiber of America and the way that they have treated people who are economically disadvantaged - and I always go to people of color because that's what I'm experiencing - I don't think that they care until it, you know, happens to them. So until it affects their homes, their children, their money, then they don't pay attention.
SUMMERS: For his part, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves blames the water problems on the city's mismanagement and says he's focused on the health and welfare of Jackson residents.
SUMMERS: CONSIDER THIS - the water pressure is back in Jackson for now even as the boil water notice is still in place. But the city's latest water crisis points to a long-standing question for local, state and national leaders. What can be done to fix it?
SUMMERS: From NPR, I'm Juana Summers. It's Wednesday, September 7.
SUMMERS: It's CONSIDER THIS FROM NPR. For Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the city's water problems have been around as long as he can remember.
CHOKWE ANTAR LUMUMBA: I moved to Jackson in 1988 as a little boy. I remember in '89 how a storm, a winter storm, debilitated our system then. And I can remember being without water for more than a month. And I can remember that there are more times than I can honestly recount over the course of my years in Jackson.
SUMMERS: Lumumba says Jackson has been failed by administration after administration, and he's calling for extensive repairs to the city's water system - repairs that could cost more than a billion dollars.
LUMUMBA: You know, we've been here before in terms of Jackson's infrastructure where we've been able to restore pressure, we've been able to lift boil water notices, but without critical and, you know, very important capital improvements to be made of our water treatment facility. It's not a matter of if it will fail again, but a matter of when it will fail again.
SUMMERS: Jackson is not the only U.S. city struggling to provide residents with safe and clean drinking water. Flint, Mich., is still dealing with the fallout from its water crisis after the local government pumped water into homes that corroded the lead pipes, causing a major public health crisis. Carlos Martín of the Brookings Institution says there's no question race and partisan politics have an impact on infrastructure.
CARLOS MARTIN: In many ways, it's a miracle that we don't have more Jackson, Miss., and Flint, Mich., in this country. And that's for the grace of God in infrastructure that ties most communities' infrastructures together. It ties Black and white communities. It ties rich and poor communities on the whole. And when we don't see those same communities being served by the same physical infrastructure systems, we see more of these cases.
SUMMERS: To get a handle on all of this, my colleague Ari Shapiro talked to Michael Regan, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Regan was in Baton Rouge on Wednesday, and we caught him ahead of a meeting he convened with Gov. Reeves and Mayor Lumumba. He told Ari he was looking for a commitment to a strategic plan to stabilize the water system in Jackson in the short and the long term.
MICHAEL REGAN: It's important that federal, state and local governments are working hand in hand to unlock the resources that exist to begin to fix this problem for the foreseeable future.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: This seems like one of the key issues here, is the tensions between the state leadership - Republican leadership - and the city leadership, who are Democrats. I mean, the governor, Tate Reeves, said on Monday that Jackson had failed to present the state with details on a long-term plan to fix the city water system, which the mayor, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, said is just not the case. So in your view, what's the issue here? And how does it get resolved?
REGAN: You know, I had the opportunity to visit with a Jackson resident this morning, 98-year-old Mrs. Anderson (ph). And she told me that she was tired of the finger pointing and that she wanted some solutions. And so the reason I'm here today is to sit down with all parties and take a close look at what we need to do collectively in an expedited fashion to move forward with some solutions for the people of Jackson.
SHAPIRO: So you're not taking sides?
REGAN: (Laughter) Well, you know, right now, I think there will be plenty of time in the foreseeable future for us to figure out who did what and when. Right now, the people of Jackson need good quality drinking water. So it's all hands on deck. And right now, I believe that it's going to take all of us working together to achieve that.
SHAPIRO: Do you believe that this is evidence of structural racism? After all, the state's leaders are largely white and Republican. And the local city leaders are Democratic, and they oversee a city that is more than 80% Black.
REGAN: Well, we know that this problem has existed for decades. And there is no question that Black and brown communities have been underinvested in and underserved going back decades and longer. And Jackson is no different. So obviously, there are some structural problems that have existed for far too long. And yes, racism has been a factor in these problems for far too long. But this problem predates all of us that are trying to solve this problem today. And so what I hope to do is not be divisive, but bring everyone to the table and focus on the task at hand.
SHAPIRO: Beyond convening state and city leaders, let's talk about the role of the EPA here. Jackson's mayor, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, spoke to A Martinez, one of the hosts of NPR's Morning Edition, today. And he talked about the EPA's role in getting money from the federal infrastructure law to the city of Jackson. Here's part of what he said.
A MARTINEZ, BYLINE: Did President Biden - and quickly on this, mayor. Did he give you a timeline? He said it was a priority. But did he give you a timeline?
LUMUMBA: No timeline. But he told me the agencies that he would have working on it are FEMA in the short term and the EPA for the long-term goals.
SHAPIRO: Do you have a timeline on when more infrastructure funding, and how much, will reach Jackson?
REGAN: Well, absolutely. Listen, there's $30 million available right now for Jackson. And part of today's discussion will be focusing on, how does the city and state come together to unlock access to that $30 million that's available through the state revolving loan fund right now?
SHAPIRO: Does the state have to be a gatekeeper here? Is there any way for the money to reach Jackson without state approval?
REGAN: You know, there's a partnership here. It's the way the law is structured. And whether it's the existing $30 million or the resources through the bipartisan infrastructure law, the process is that it goes from the federal to the states to the city. But let me be clear. I've written a letter to every governor in all 50 states outlining the criteria that we expect to be associated with these resources. And cities like Jackson are prime candidates for these resources.
SHAPIRO: Do you think it's a problem that the structure of this law allows a Republican governor to say to a Democratic mayor, sorry, you're not getting these federal dollars?
REGAN: You know, I don't think so. Because at the end of the day, if the criteria aren't met, the state won't receive the funds from the federal government. Right now, the law is written such that over half of these resources should go to disadvantaged communities. By those criteria alone, Jackson is well-qualified. So what we need from the mayor and what we need from the city of Jackson is an application for these funds. And we're offering technical assistance. We're offering expertise. We're offering help to the city to help design a competitive grant application so that the state of Mississippi can say yes. That's what we need now. And today's meeting with the governor and the mayor is designed to get a commitment from both leaders that Jackson needs the resources and that the three of us will do what it takes to get Jackson those resources.
SHAPIRO: There are a lot of cities and states that are in a similar tug of war, trying to get federal dollars to places that need it most. And you as EPA administrator cannot mediate between governors and mayors in every state where this is happening. Is there a better solution?
REGAN: You know, we've worked with a number of governors - Republican governors and Democratic governors - all across the country to redesign their definition of disadvantaged communities to be sure that no one's being locked out. And if states are not abiding by the criteria that has been, you know, put forth by the legislature - the legislation, excuse me - then, we're going to withhold those funds until those plans reflect the true intention of the bipartisan infrastructure law.
SHAPIRO: You say you've been aware for a long time that Jackson had a fragile water infrastructure. If this process is successful, will that no longer be the case? Are you going to avert more than just the next water crisis, but rather put Jackson on safe, solid footing for years to come?
REGAN: The goal is to put forward a sustainable plan to not only provide good quality drinking water to the residents of Jackson, which they deserve, but also to bolster the economic competitiveness of this city. Listen, a city without access to clean drinking water and wastewater treatment is not geared for success. And so we want to put Jackson in the position to be successful economically as well as from a health and water quality standpoint.
SHAPIRO: Can you tell residents of Jackson how much longer they're going to have to keep boiling their water?
REGAN: We're working night and day to get the system back online. And that's state, federal, local and contractors, night and day, to get this facility back online. And we'll keep doing that until the city can provide the people of Jackson good quality drinking water.
SHAPIRO: It sounds like you don't want to make any promises. But any rough forecast even - days, weeks, another month?
REGAN: You know, we're hoping for the foreseeable future. Listen, I was just at the water treatment facility meeting with the operators, meeting with the emergency response team. Everyone is all hands on deck. And I think - you know, the site lead said to me that he was optimistic that we were exceeding expectations. It's my hope that the people of Jackson have good quality drinking water as soon as possible.
SUMMERS: That's EPA administrator Michael Regan speaking to my colleague Ari Shapiro.
SUMMERS: It's CONSIDER THIS FROM NPR. I'm Juana Summers.
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