Water Sector News
A snapshot of clean water stories from publications around the country, updated daily!
What the federal infrastructure bill means for water systems nationwide
The ongoing crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, is a dramatic reminder of the fragility of Americans’ water supply systems. When recent flooding overloaded the city’s already hobbled water treatment plant, tap water became unsafe to drink for the city’s 180,000 residents, more than 80% of whom are Black. The city no longer had enough water pressure to fight fires.
The system collapse was the culmination of decades of underfunding, and in that respect, Jackson has plenty of company. The latest survey by the Environmental Protection Agency — conducted in 2015 — put the price tag for fixing America’s drinking water infrastructure at $472.6 billion over the next 20 years. That was nearly $90 billion higher than when the EPA asked four years earlier.