The Environmental Protection Agency has opened a civil rights probe into Alabama’s Department of Environmental Management. It centers on the department’s implementation of a federal program that was meant to sort long-standing issues with water infrastructure across the country.

The EPA probe and activists allege that the state has hindered Black residents in rural areas from obtaining federal funds to update their wastewater systems leading to serious issues with sewage and parasitic diseases.

Lylla Younes is a reporter for Here & Now‘s editorial partners at The Grist and has been covering this story. She joins Deepa Fernandes for the latest.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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