Marketplace, June 19, 2023, Water contamination in Black communities doesn’t stop at Flint or Jackson
In a lot of ways, the water crises in Flint, Michigan and Jackson, Mississippi, put lead-poisoned water on the map. And while the Biden administration has since earmarked more than $50 billion to replace lead pipes and build water treatment plants, a 2018 report by the Environmental Protection Agency shows that the country will actually need more than $470 billion to maintain and improve drinking water infrastructure over the next 20 years.
In particular, the waterways that need the most help are overwhelmingly in Black communities.
Adam Mahoney is a national climate and environment reporter with Capital B, a news organization focused on Black communities. He went on a reporting trip through communities in the South that have been hit the hardest by water access issues, and joined Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams to talk about what he found. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
