BALTIMORE \u2014 For Gloria Johnson, getting water that she trusts is an ordeal. Every month, the mother of two boils gallons of tap water for her family to drink and cook with. Though Baltimore\u2019s drinking water meets federal safety standards, the water coming out of her tap is sometimes brown \u2014 a sign iron may be leaching from aging pipes,\u00a0whether in her building or under the street.
\n\u201cYou\u2019re helping your kids with homework, cooking, trying to get ready for bed,\u201d Johnson said.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating because we\u2019ve got to keep up with this every single day.\u201d
\nAs federal investment in water infrastructure has dwindled over the years, the infrastructure in America\u2019s cities for drinking, waste and stormwater has deteriorated. That was made evident last September in Baltimore, when tests revealed the presence of E. coli in the drinking water in three sites in West Baltimore, a predominantly Black and low-income area. City officials determined the contamination was caused by a cascade of infrastructure failures.
\nThe federal government has \u201cwaited too long\u201d to invest in water infrastructure, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan told NBC News in an interview. \u201cUnfortunately, there are certain populations in this country, Black and brown communities, tribal communities, low-income communities, that are seeing the worst aspects of this disinvestment.\u201d
\nLast year, the EPA granted Maryland $144 million to finance water infrastructure projects across the state as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which set aside more than $50 billion to improve drinking, waste and stormwater infrastructure across the country. The EPA also announced that Baltimore, a city that is more than 60 percent Black, would receive more than $390 million to finance water infrastructure projects.
\nRegan, who has spent the past year visiting communities struggling with water infrastructure crises \u2014 including in Alabama,\u00a0Mississippi\u00a0and West Virginia \u2014 acknowledged that the need is much greater.
\n\u201cThe resources that we have from the bill are just a shot in the arm,\u201d he said, adding that the nation needs billions more in public and private investment to fully modernize vulnerable water systems.
\n\u201cNo community should ever experience what Flint [Michigan] experienced,\u201d he said. \u201cNo community should ever experience\u00a0what Jackson, Mississippi, is experiencing\u00a0right now. We do have to have a proactive strategy to prevent cities from getting to that point.\u201d<\/p>\n