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‘Inadequate’ Health Department oversight contributed to Jackson water failure, federal watchdog finds

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mississippitoday.org – Alex Rozier – 2024-08-13 16:38:21

‘Inadequate’ Health Department oversight contributed to Jackson water failure, federal watchdog finds

A federal watchdog report Monday laid blame on the , as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, for prolonging Jackson’s well-documented water woes, saying their failed oversight contributed to the capital city’s issues lasting as long as they have.

“The MSDH’s inaction prolonged Jackson’s noncompliance,” the EPA Office of Inspector General’s reads. The EPA OIG is an independent office within the EPA that conducts investigations and audits on behalf of the agency.

The report goes on to say that the not documenting or raising attention to critical issues within the water system “obscured the long-standing challenges of the system, issues to compound over time, and contributed to the system’s failure.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, MSDH hadn’t released a statement on the report, only telling Mississippi Today that it was still reviewing the document.

Among the many faults the report identified, the EPA OIG found that MSDH hasn’t had a proper enforcement procedure for drinking water systems since the EPA granted the state primacy — or the authority to regulate those systems — in 1977. The report criticizes both MSDH for not enforcement procedures, as well as the EPA for not requiring MSDH to do so.

Members of the Mississippi National Guard distribute bottled water to Jackson residents at the Mississippi Trade Mart in Jackson, Miss., Thursday, September 1, 2022. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

The investigation claims that MSDH didn’t call enough attention to significant issues with Jackson’s water system, and that by not doing so it left the EPA in the dark.

“Because the MSDH did not consistently identify significant deficiencies in Jackson’s sanitary surveys, there were no subsequent violations of which the EPA would have been made aware,” the EPA OIG wrote.

Specifically, the document says: “System staffing was a common concern noted throughout multiple sanitary surveys but only rose to the level of a significant deficiency in the February 2020 sanitary survey. In addition, membrane trains, which provide filtration, failed integrity testing in multiple sanitary surveys from 2015 through 2017 but were not deemed a significant deficiency until the February 2020 sanitary survey.”

Notably, only half of the membrane trains at the O.B. Curtis water treatment plant were running when a 2021 winter storm shut down Jackson’s water distribution.

The EPA OIG also listed several instances when MSDH failed to timely communicate with Jackson over its system deficiencies, including when the city failed a test in July 2015. MSDH didn’t notify the city of the test results until January 2016, and, due to the delay, “for approximately six months, Jackson residents were unaware that lead may have been in their drinking water,” the report says.

“For the majority of the sanitary surveys and inspections from 2016 through 2020, the MSDH had inconsistent communication with Jackson,” the report adds. “Either the MSDH sent written notification of significant deficiencies several months after conducting a sanitary survey or inspection, or it did not notify Jackson.”

Federal requires states to conduct “sanitary surveys” at least once every three years to make sure public water systems are up to code.

Jackson’s O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Facility. Tuesday, July 19, 2023. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

Not only did MSDH delay telling Jackson about the city’s deficiencies, the report says, the agency also didn’t adequately reflect the severity of the city’s issues in its inspections. In an interview, an EPA Region IV employee told the EPA OIG that a 2020 diagnosis of Jackson’s water system found issues dating back to 2014 that MSDH hadn’t listed as “significant discrepancies.”

“According to a (Region IV enforcement) employee, the MSDH may have been aware of more problems than what was documented in the sanitary surveys,” the EPA OIG adds. “That employee speculated that there was a lack of ‘political will’ in the MSDH to address problems identified.”

Noting the city’s above-average number of line breaks — which were over three times the industry average from 2017 to 2021 — the report says that while line breaks are usually not reported to the EPA, the state could report the issue to the EPA if they find an “exorbitant number” of boil water notices. From 2014 to 2022, Jackson issued approximately 1,570 boil water notices. The report emphasizes the issue with a photo of a coffee mug captioned “Welcome to Boil Water Alert Mississippi.”

A screenshot of the EPA OIG’s August, 2024 report on MSDH and EPA oversight of Jackson’s water system.

The report is the third this year that the EPA Office of Inspector General, an independent watchdog agency, released about Jackson’s water system. All three stem from the near-collapse of the system in 2022, which happened after the coincidence of flooding on the Pearl River and the failure of pumps at the city’s main treatment plant. Since then, the Department of Justice, EPA and city came to an agreement to allow a court-appointed third-party manager to temporarily takeover the water system.

The first report, released in May, found that MSDH and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality didn’t racially discriminate against Jackson in funding the city’s water system.

About a later, though, the EPA OIG released another report that found that MSDH failed to provide Jackson with flexible loan options that are available for economically disadvantaged cities. That report also described failures on the city level, including poor management of its treatment plants as well as gaps in communication between operators and higher-ups.

Monday’s report lists several recommended actions to prevent the agencies’ short-comings in the future, including assessing MSDH’s sanitary survey program and how it helps water systems overcome deficiencies. Another action it lists is to make sure that MSDH has a procedure for enforcing federal and state drinking water laws.

“If (MSDH) is not implementing enforcement procedures as required by Safe Drinking Water Act section 1413, consider whether procedures for rescinding state primacy for water systems should be initiated,” the recommended action states.

In an e-mailed statement from EPA Press Officer Terry Johnson, the agency said that it has “previously identified many of the same concerns raised by the (EPA OIG) and has already begun implementing actions to address their recommendations. This includes working with (MSDH) to ensure strong drinking water regulatory oversight at the state and federal levels.” The City of Jackson did not respond to a request for comment by this story’s publication.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1875

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-11-02 07:00:00

Nov. 2, 1875

Pictured here are U.S. Sen. Hiram Revels of Mississippi, left, with six Black members of the U.S. House, Ben J.S. Turner of Alabama, Josiah T. Walls of Florida, Jefferson H. Long of Georgia, and Robert C. De Large, Joseph H. Rainy and R. Brown Elliot, all of South Carolina. Credit: Library of

The first Mississippi Plan, which included violence against Black Americans to keep them from , resulted in huge victories for white Democrats across the

A year earlier, the Republican Party had carried a majority of the votes, and many Black had been elected to office. In the wake of those victories, white leagues arose to Republican rule and began to use widespread violence and fraud to recapture control of the state. 

Over several days in September 1875, about 50 Black Mississippians were killed along with white supporters, a school teacher who worked with the Black community in Clinton. 

The governor asked President Ulysses Grant to intervene, but he decided against intervening, and the violence and fraud continued. Other Southern states soon copied the Mississippi plan. 

John R. Lynch, the last Black congressman for Mississippi until the 1986 election of Mike Espy, wrote: “It was a well-known fact that in 1875 nearly every Democratic club in the State was converted into an armed military company.” 

A federal grand jury concluded: “Fraud, intimidation, and violence perpetrated at the last election is without a parallel in the annals of history.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Mississippi Today’s NewsMatch Campaign is Here: Support Journalism that Strengthens Mississippi

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mississippitoday.org – Mary Margaret White – 2024-11-01 12:34:00

High-quality journalism like ours depends on reader ; without it, we simply couldn’t exist. That’s why we’re proud to join the NewsMatch movement, a national initiative aimed at raising $50 million for nonprofit newsrooms that serve communities like ours here in Mississippi, where access to reliable information has often been limited.

In a time when trusted journalists and sources are disappearing, we believe the stakes couldn’t be higher. Without on-the-ground, trustworthy reporting, civic engagement suffers, accountability falters and corruption often goes unaddressed. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Here at we act as watchdogs, holding those in power accountable, and as storytellers, giving a platform to voices that have been ignored for too long. And we’re committed to keeping our stories for everyone because information should be accessible when it’s needed most.

Why NewsMatch and Why Now?

This year’s NewsMatch campaign runs from November 1 through December 31, giving us a special to make each dollar you give go even further. Through matching funds provided by local foundations like the Maddox Foundation, and national funders like the MacArthur Foundation, the Rural Partner Fund and the Hewlett Foundation, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar up to $1,000. Plus, if 100 new donors join us, we’ll unlock an additional $2,000 in funding, bringing us even closer to our goal. Boiled down: your donation goes four times as far.

Every dollar raised strengthens our ability to serve you with fact-based journalism on issues that impact your everyday life—whether it’s covering local election issues or reporting on decisions affecting schools, safety and economic growth in Mississippi. Your support makes it possible for us to stay rooted in the community, offering nuanced perspectives that help Mississippians understand and engage with what’s happening around them.

Special Event: “Freedom of the Press: Southern Challenges, National Impact”

As part of the campaign, we’re excited to host a special virtual event, “ of the Press: Southern Challenges, National Impact.” Join Deep South Today newsrooms Mississippi Today and Verite News, along with national experts on press freedom, for an in-depth discussion on the unique challenges facing journalists in the Deep South. This one-hour will explore the critical role local newsrooms play in holding power accountable, highlighting recent restrictions on press freedom such as Louisiana’s “25- law,” which affects journalists’ ability to vital .

We’ll examine what’s at stake if local newsrooms lose press freedoms and will discuss how you, as members of the public, can help protect it. This event is open to Mississippi Today and Verite News members as a special thank-you for supporting local journalism and standing with us in this mission. Donate today to RSVP!

How You Can Help

Make Your Gift Today

Together, let’s ensure Mississippi has the robust, independent journalism it needs to thrive. Your support fuels our ability to expose the truth, elevate marginalized stories and build a more informed Mississippi.

Thank you for believing in the power of journalism to strengthen the communities we love—not only during election season but year-round. With your help, we’ll keep Mississippi informed, engaged and connected for generations to come.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Hinds County loses fight over control of jail

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mississippitoday.org – Mina Corpuz – 2024-11-01 12:57:00

The sheriff and Board of Supervisors have lost an appeal to prevent control of its jail by a court-appointed receiver and an injunction that orders the county to address unconstitutional conditions in the facility.   

Two members from a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with decisions by U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves to appoint a receiver to oversee day-to-day jail operations and keep parts of a previous consent decree in place to fix constitutional violations, a failure to protect detainees from harm. 

However, the appeals court called the new injunction “overly broad” in one area and is asking Reeves to reevaluate the scope of the receivership.

The injunction retained provisions relating to sexual assault, but the appeals court found the provisions were tied to general risk of violence at the jail, rather than specific concerns about the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The court reversed those points of the injunction and remanded them to the district court so the provisions can be

The court also found that the receiver should not have authority over budgeting and staff salaries for the Raymond Detention Center, which could be seen as “federal intrusion into RDC’s budget” – especially if the receivership has no end date. 

Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Robert Graham was not immediately available for comment Friday. Sheriff Tyree Jones declined to comment because he has not yet read the entire court opinion. 

In 2016, the Department of Justice sued Hinds County alleging a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conditions in four of its detention facilities. The county and DOJ entered a consent decree with stipulated changes to make for the jail system, which people facing trial. 

“But the decree did not resolve the dispute; to the contrary, a yearslong battle ensued in the district court as to whether and to what extent the County was complying with the consent decree,” the appeals court wrote.  

This prompted Reeves to hold the county in contempt of court twice in 2022. 

The county argued it was doing its best to comply with the consent decree and spending millions to fix the jail. One of the they offered was building a new jail, which is now under construction in

The county had a to further prove itself during three weeks of hearings held in February 2022. Focuses included the of seven detainees in 2021 from assaults and suicide and issues with staffing, contraband, old and use of force. 

Seeing partial compliance by the county, in April 2022 Reeves dismissed the consent decree and issued a new, shorter injunction focused on the jail and removed some provisions from the decree.

But Reeves didn’t see improvement from there. In July 2022, he ordered receivership and wrote that it was needed because of an ongoing risk of unconstitutional harm to jail detainees and staff. 

The county pushed back against federal oversight and filed an appeal, arguing that there isn’t sufficient evidence to show that there are current and ongoing constitutional violations at the jail and that the county has acted with deliberate indifference. 

Days before the appointed receiver was set to take control of the jail at the beginning of 2023, the 5th Circuit Court ordered a stay to halt that receiver’s work. The new injunction ordered by Reeves was also stayed, and a three-person jail monitoring team that had been in place for years also was ordered to stop work. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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