...The water crisis in my home city of Jackson, Miss., made national news again last year. The cameras have since moved on but residents continue to deal with issues of access to safe water except now, they also face higher bills, declining services and little to no accountability or transparency.

The problem is the private entity JXN Water, which is the court-appointed enshrined interim third party manager, that the Environmental Protection Agency supports. JXN Water has had complete control over Jackson’s water system since its establishment in November 2022. As Jackson residents, we have had enough of unsafe water, precarious infrastructure, and mean-spirited, biased politics that disregard our humanity and deplete our resources.

In September 2023, two members of the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition—the People’s Advocacy Institute and the Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign—filed a motion to intervene, in their independent capacities, in the ongoing lawsuit between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Jackson. The case rests on the alleged failure to comply with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. In the face of JXN Water’s ongoing lack of transparency, the organizations seek to ensure an official role for community involvement.

The campaign has worked hard to garner the support of nationally respected organizations such as the Center for Constitutional Rights, Forward Justice,  Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi. Their support with public advocacy and legal assistance led to the submission of an emergency petition cataloging issues plaguing the water system. In March 2024, federal Judge Henry Wingate granted intervention rights to MPPC and PAI allowing us a voice in the proceedings, one we intend to exercise to the fullest extent...

Read the full piece here.