For decades, residents of Jackson, Mississippi, have experienced threats to their health and wellbeing from an outdated, failing public water system. For the past three years, this predominantly Black city has been experiencing complete water shutdowns and receiving tap water that has not been proven to residents as safe to drink. As a result, the community has been subjected to hundreds of “Boil Water Notices” alerting the presence of possible microbial bacteria and lead contamination, causing wide mistrust of the water system within the local community.  Adding to the problem, state laws have created barriers for the city to receive rehabilitating aid. 

Local Jackson-based community groups such the People’s Advocacy Institute (“PAI”), the Poor People’s Campaign Mississippi: A National Call for Moral Revival (“Mississippi PPC”), and the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition (“the Coalition”), of which PAI and Mississippi PPC are leading members, have been providing Mississippians with emergency supplies like bottled water and water testing and filter kits, as communities have been forced to largely rely on their locally-pooled resources to support and care for themselves.

In November 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) sued the City of Jackson in United States v. City of Jackson, where they argued that the city violated provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Currently, parties are under an Interim Stipulated Order, which allows a court-appointed Interim Third Party Manager to manage the city’s public water system with little oversight, irregular updates to the community on the status of the water quality, and no institutionalized community engagement.  Since this order, community members have continued to experience problems with their water supply and have received less information about the treatment and management of their water system. While the EPA has created a platform to receive community comments on solutions to the water crisis–which the community has submitted– the EPA has failed to provide information about the status of issues in the water system that led to the filing of United States v. Jackson in the first place. Additionally, none of the parties in the case has consistently provided the community with access to clean water solutions in the interim, such as an ongoing distribution of bottled water or testing kits. 

On August 9, 2023, PAI and Mississippi PPC took action on behalf of their community members and petitioned the EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act to use the EPA’s emergency powers to immediately address concerns about the conditions of their water supply and community’s leadership in the long-term process to fix the water system. These community organizations are asking for regular, evidence-based updates on current and future planned fixes to the local public water system through public meetings and educational resources; immediate access to clean water through bottled water and certified filters and testing kits; and a process that ensures community input and the community's institutionalized role in the process to resolve the water crisis in the short-and long-term. They also are seeking transparency about the safety of their public water, among otehr community-informed demands.

On September 25, 2023 , the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a motion to intervene in United States v. Jackson on behalf of PAI and Mississippi PPC to push for an institutionalized role in the parties’ decisions surrounding Jackson’s water crisis, as well as increased data sharing about Jackson’s water quality and safety, and alternative water sources. As the local Jackson community and the community organizations that represent them are currently shut out of settlement negotiations in the case, PAI and Mississippi PPC are fighting for their right to enforce compliance with the SDWA and ensure that Jackson residents have a voice in this SDWA case. In this motion to intervene, these Jackson community groups seek to propose changes to foster community input and ensure that scientifically-backed data is regularly made available and accessible to Jackson residents surrounding their water system and supply, among other forms of relief. On March 20, 2024, PAI and Mississippi PPC were granted intervention.