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The Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released a report on August 12 titled:

Deficiencies in state programs and inadequate EPA oversight of state enforcement contributed to the drinking water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi (“Report”).

The OIG stated that it conducted an evaluation to examine EPA’s response in connection with oversight related to drinking water contamination (i.e., under the Safe Drinking Water Act (“SDWA”)) in Jackson, Mississippi.

The stated goal was:

…to determine the circumstances surrounding compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act in the City of Jackson’s municipal water system and the EPA’s response thereto.

The Mississippi Department of Health (“MSDH”) is responsible for implementing and enforcing the SDWA for public water systems in Mississippi.

The state is therefore responsible for:

• Conducting hygiene surveys to assess the ability of a water system to treat and provide drinking water.
• If violations are detected, they must be entered into the safe drinking water information system on a quarterly basis.

The OIG found in its report that the MSDH:

• Failed to consistently enforce the SDWA or provide adequate oversight of Jackson’s public water system.
• Does not have implementation procedures for its compliance and enforcement program.
• No formal enforcement action has been taken to compel Jackson to comply with the SDWA.

It turns out that the EPA was unaware of the extent of the problems in Jackson until it conducted an on-site inspection of the system in February 2020.

The OIG report also concluded:

• MSDH’s sanitation investigations and inspections masked Jackson’s capacity problems and noncompliance with SDWA regulations.
• Due to inadequate oversight by the MSDH, EPA did not become aware of Jackson’s SDWA violations.

The report also found that EPA failed in its oversight of Mississippi’s designated agency and failed to require the state to implement enforcement procedures.

In its report to the EPA, the OIG makes seven recommendations:

• Evaluate the MSDH hygiene screening program.
• Develop a method to verify the adequacy of hygiene examinations conducted by the MSDH.
• Ensure that MSDH has procedures in place to ensure that water systems report compliance data to the state and that the Mississippi Public Health Laboratory has procedures in place to do so.
• Train MSDH personnel in the use of the Safe Drinking Water Information System/State software version.
• Evaluate whether MSDH implements procedures to enforce drinking water regulations.
• Update the EPA manual and training guide to include a sanitary investigation checklist and a process for states to alert EPA to public water systems with systemic problems that may not individually constitute a significant deficiency.
• Develop guidance on the applicability and use of the authorization under section 1442(b) of the SDWA to protect public health in an emergency situation.

The EPA is said to have agreed to the OIG’s seven recommendations.

A copy of the report can be downloaded here.