The EPA inspector general has dispatched staff to investigate the collapse of the Jackson, Miss., drinking water system. The public water system failure has highlighted the compounding crises of systemic racism and the climate change as 150,000 in the state’s predominantly Black capital city remain without safe drinking water. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said last week he was open to privatizing the city’s water system, “as they have in many states.” A previous investigator general probe of EPA oversight of the lead drinking water crisis in Flint, Mich., (another predominantly Black city) led to criminal indictments. The Jackson water system — which was knocked out for a month by a severe storm in early 2021 — was overwhelmed by heavy rains and flooding in late August. Typically, inspectors general investigate whether a federal agency failed to adequately oversee a state’s implementation of (in this case) the Safe Drinking Water Act. (IG investigation: E&E News/Politico, InsideEPA $, WLBT, WXXV, CNN, NBC, Mississippi Today; Environmental racism: The Root, Atmos; Michigan parallels: Michigan Advance; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase, Flooding)