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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has opened an investigation into the State of Mississippi’s handling of the Jackson water crisis. The Jackson water crisis caused the residents of Jackson to go weeks without clean water, prompting the NAACP to file a complaint with the EPA. The complaint claimed that the state had exacerbated the water crisis by diverting funds from the majority black city, citing a dwindling tax base caused by white flight. While it is not clear what verdict the EPA will come to, it released a statement making it clear that the agency was taking the complaint seriously.

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The article discusses an increasingly precarious trend in the demographics of skilled water professions such as 30-40% of the workforce nearing retirement age. Raising serious concerns about the future operation and maintenance of our nation’s water infrastructure. The article claims that this trend is caused by a lack of capacity for funding training programs for water workers, especially in rural communities. Further contributing to national water infrastructure that desperately needs an upgrade, the EPA estimates that $630 billion is needed to keep up with needed improvements. Not to mention issues caused by recent natural disasters like Hurricane Helene which left Asheville without water for 50 days due to a lack of water operators. The article concludes that the US needs to think more proactively about its long-term management of its water supply.

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The city of Toledo is a city that borders the Great Lakes, it’s rich in water but is facing an unusual water crisis. On August 2nd the city issued a water advisory due to a green algal bloom in the lakes. The green algae produces microcystin which causes nausea, diarrhea, and even liver damage when consumed in large amounts. Boiling the water only exacerbates the issue leaving residents to rely on the city and local organizations to provide bottled water. Scientists hypothesize that the blooms were caused by inadequate fertilizing practices from farmers in the region. The city hopes to be able to find effective solutions to the complex issue.

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All three articles talk about the issue of water quality, although all face different and unique issues. The first two articles highlight that funding can affect the infrastructure of both urban and rural communities, and the last article shows that even with funding that a water crisis can still appear. I would say that the most illuminating article is the first. I would like to read more about the intersectionality of white flight and dwindling city services. I believe that the first article explained its issue the most thoroughly, leaving me wanting a bit more of an explanation from the last two articles.

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Jackson is the capital and most populous city in Mississippi, with a population of around 150,000 people. The impacted community would be the entire city served by the water district. As mentioned in the article, this is a predominantly Black city due to the effects of white flight and years of discriminatory housing practices. The planning issues under consideration here go beyond just a water issue, it includes racist and discriminatory planning and housing practices. The relevant debates to this topic are who the blame for poor water quality falls on. On one hand, the city/water agencies are failing to provide a service that they are supposed to guarantee, but it’s not so clear cut. The city claims that years of discriminatory housing practices established by years of federal law have undermined the city's tax base, preventing it from providing these services. The problem certainly has multiple scales of blame that could be argued for. Regardless, this article implies that there needs to be intersectional changes in order for this issue to be addressed. The funding mechanism for cities certainly needs to be addressed as well as reparations for Black Americans affected by long standing and ever evolving discriminatory practices of planning. While the case has only been filed, it is extremely important that this complex issue starts to be discussed and debated so that it can be resolved.

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This article is discussing the state of rural areas within the US, meaning the impacted communities are mostly rural Americans but the severity of the issue can expand to affect the entire country. The planning issues under consideration are water related issues. The article mostly focuses on the lack of economic resources within rural communities to support the development of programs to train water specialists. As well as the lack of water operators to deal with disasters and emergencies when they happen. It is certainly a hard issue to tackle as there is such a lack of development funding for rural communities, and oftentimes these communities lack people who are experienced in grant writing. Making them less competitive than urban cities at securing state and federal funding for such issues. It seems like unless there is a change in the format and structure of federal and state funding for such initiatives, the state of our water infrastructure will continue to dwindle leaving our rural communities without adequate water supply.

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Toledo is a city in Ohio that borders both Michigan and Lake Erie that boasts a population of 270,000. The article discusses a water quality issue again, and the impacted community is the residents of Toledo, as well as the people further down the Lake Erie watershed. The planning issue under consideration here is water quality, as the residents ran into issues with an algal bloom inside of the lake. The question that this article raises is what role does the city have in regulating farmers and their fertilizer use. It is a hard issue to solve as fertilizer is a very useful tool in farming. So far, the city has required farmers to take a certification program in responsible fertilizer use to hopefully reduce their runoff into the water and solve the issue. It is unclear whether this program will solve the problem, but it is a great start.

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I was unaware that there were any environmental justice cases that talked about the intersectionality of planning injustices such as housing and water like discussed in this article. This specific planning topic is interesting to me because I feel very strongly about planning injustices to the environment(including humans and the built environment). This affects me because no one is excluded from the reach of environmental disasters and issues. While it certainly affects marginalized groups more than privileged ones, climate and natural disasters continue to exacerbate each other.

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I have yet to learn much about some of the issues that rural communities face because they lack economic pull like an urban city would. I learned more about some of the specific issues that these communities face, especially as it relates to infrastructure and aging populations. Again, as a planner this affects because these are issues that I will be facing later in my career. Planners must start to address issues like these that have been swept under the rug for years and continue to fester.

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I learned about how farming can affect water quality and cause issues like the algal bloom, creating a water crisis that you can’t even boil to fix. Again as a planner interested in environmental issues this is a complex and interesting issue to me. I am sure as someone who lives in a state like California it will not be long before I encounter an issue related to water and fertilizer like this one. Toledo will be an example for us to follow when this happens.

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Goodyear, Sarah. “Toledo Water Crisis Coming to a Faucet near You?” Nextcity.org, 4 Aug. 2014, nextcity.org/urbanist-news/toledo-water-tap-water-safe-drink. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

Pierre-Louis, Kendra. “America Needs More Water Workers – but Many Don’t Even Know the Job Exists.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 20 Dec. 2024, www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-12-20/america-needs-more-water-workers-but-many-don-t-even-know-the-job-exists. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

Pittman, Ashton. “EPA Investigating Mississippi for Civil Rights Violations over Jackson Water Crisis.” Mississippi Free Press, 20 Oct. 2022, www.mississippifreepress.org/epa-investigating-mississippi-for-civil-rights-violations-over-jackson-water-crisis/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

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Planetizen - EPA Investigating Mississippi For Civil Rights Violations Over Jackson Water Crisis

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Bloomberg - America’s Next Water Crisis? A Lack of Experienced Workers

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Next City - Toledo Water Crisis Coming to a Faucet Near You?

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EPA Investigating Mississippi For Civil Rights Violations Over Jackson Water Crisis

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The EPA has opened a civil rights investigation into the State of Mississippi over the Jackson water crisis.

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Toledo Water Crisis Coming to a Faucet Near You?

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On August 2nd, Toledo became the first major U.S. city to have its drinking water affected by a Great Lakes toxin.