Water Sector News
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Civil rights complaint filed over Alabama’s wastewater infrastructure fund distributions
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Several organizations have filed a civil rights complaint against the State of Alabama and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management alleging discrimination in how the state distributes funding for wastewater infrastructure to Black communities.
The complaint, filed by The Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice and NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), which are represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, alleges violations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The complaint allege the state and ADEM are withholding resources from Black communities that lack proper sanitation access, something ADEM strongly denies.
“This country’s neglect of wastewater infrastructure in majority Black communities — both urban and rural — is resulting in a hygienic hell for far too many people. A hell that climate change is only making worse,” said CREEJ founder Catherine Coleman Flowers.