Federal court rules there is no constitutional right to safe drinking water

This story was originally published by Capital B and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.​ A federal appeals court has used a decades-long water crisis in one of the Blackest cities in America to rule that the U. Constitution does not guarantee Americans the right to clean and safe drinking water. The September 4 ruling came even after Jackson, Mississippi, residents alleged officials knew the water was contaminated and assured the public it was safe. To this point, the appellate court also ruled that the Constitution does not offer citizens the “right to truthful information from officials during a public health crisis.” The ruling signals that Black residents may face the most serious consequences of unsafe or failing water systems while having limited ability to seek a remedy through the Constitution. At the same time, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has already determined that the city could not receive support through the Civil Rights Act of 1965. What is happening in Jackson matters because federal data shows Black communities are more likely than white communities to be served -based Safe Drinking Water Act violations. Research has also found that systems in communities with larger Black populations take much longer to be fixed or improved.  Grist thanks its sponsors. To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. Here's How Read Next Chicago has the most lead pipes in the nation. Keerti Gopal, Peter Aldhous, Clayton Aldern, Amy Qin, & Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco “Jackson residents did everything this country tells poor people to do. They organized, they testified, they boiled their water, they filed suit, they trusted the courts. And at every step the answer has been no,” said Danyelle Holmes, a senior national organizer with Mississippi’s Poor People’s Campaign. Jackson is more than 80 percent Black and has a poverty rate that is more than double the national average. “What it signals is that the law has told a majority-Black capital city that its suffering is real but its remedy does not exist,” Holmes added. How did the court come to this decision?  The lawsuit that spurred the federal appeals court ruling was first brought -contaminated water to reach their homes and then misled the public about whether it was safe to drink. The suit also alleged that state authorities violated civil rights law . To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist.