EPA administrator hears about Miss. water worries

JACKSON, Miss. – EPA Administrator Michael Regan said Tuesday that the agency is still working on a plan to bring long-term improvements to the water system in Mississippi’s capital city, which came perilously close to collapsing more than two months ago.

“I am here for the fourth time in one year because I want to hear directly from you,” Regan told dozens of business people, elected officials, pastors and others during a meeting at Jackson State University.

Radhika Fox, the EPA assistant administrator for water, joined Regan and Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba for the gathering.

Jackson has struggled with water problems for decades. Most of the city lost running water for several days after heavy rainfall exacerbated problems at the city’s main water treatment plant in late August.

When that happened, Jackson had already been under a boil-water advisory for a month because health inspectors had found cloudy water that could make people ill.

About 80% of Jackson’s 150,000 residents are Black, and about a quarter of the population lives in poverty.

The boil-water advisory was lifted in mid-September, but many people remain skeptical about water quality. State Rep. Bo Brown, a Democrat from Jackson, asked Regan on Tuesday whether the EPA can do anything to instill confidence in people that the water is safe to drink.

“You’re still hearing people say, ‘Well, I’m not so sure,’ ” Brown said.

Regan said he had spent time with a 98-year-old woman in her Jackson home.

Her advice: Put aside politics and start working on a solution.

“The mayor and I have talked about this a number of times. We know we have to earn trust,” Regan said.

The EPA announced Oct. 20 that it was investigating whether Mississippi state agencies discriminated against Jackson by refusing to fund improvements for its failing water system. Regan told reporters that he could not give details about that investigation Tuesday.