DOJ, EPA announce agreement on Jackson sewage system after 2022 water crisis

The Justice Department announced an agreement Wednesday among the state of Mississippi, its capital city of Jackson and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on upgrades to the city’s sewage infrastructure eight months after a drinking-water crisis.

The proposed agreement would appoint Ted Henifin, who has served as interim third-party manager for Jackson’s drinking water system since last November, to the same role in its sewer system. Henifin would remain in the role until the parties can reach a formal consent decree. 

Jackson was previously subject to a 2013 consent decree relating to the sewer system, but the Wednesday agreement concedes lack of “significant progress” in the past 10 years. As a result, the agreement states, the last decade has seen violations of the state Air and Water Pollution Control Law as well as the federal Clean Water Act and city National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits.

“In November of last year, the Justice Department filed a proposal to appoint a third-party manager to oversee and implement improvements to Jackson’s drinking water system,” Larry Starfield, principal deputy assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said in a statement. “Today, we continue to protect the health and safety of Jackson residents by proposing the oversight and programs needed to restore Jackson’s sewer systems.”   

After torrential rains knocked out a city water treatment plant last year, residents were left without access to drinking water for several days and remained under a boil-water advisory after the crisis was resolved. The predominantly Black and Democratic leadership of the city has said it lacks the resources it needs from the predominantly white and Republican state government, while state officials have accused city leaders of misusing funds. 

Jackson saw its tax base shrink significantly over the second half of the 20th century, as wealthier white residents left in large numbers in the wake of federal desegregation orders. The reduced revenues have left the city unable to upgrade much of its infrastructure over the decades.