What The Hell America!

Last April, Sherry Bradley and the Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Program helped rural Alabama resident Willie Perryman install a septic system in his home for the first time. 

Since his grandfather purchased the land and homestead more than six decades ago, none of the family’s properties had a proper disposal system for their waste. Thousands of families across rural America don’t have the financial means to run a proper septic system, and many homes are not connected to municipal sewage systems. Perryman used a “straight-pipe” method to carry sewage away from his house, where it was then dumped into open ground on the property. That meant for generations, his family lived among the stench and bacteria of their own waste.

“My yard is awful,” Perryman, 70, said at the time. “But I’m thankful for BBUWP trying to help.” 

Bradley’s organization was able to help Perryman in part due to former President Joe Biden’s emphasis on environmental justice. Under his leadership, the federal government granted her organization $14 million to help people in rural Alabama install more efficient waste systems. Her organization also collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from other state and federal agencies. 

The financial support came after a federal investigation found the state knowingly allowed Black residents to face the raw sewage crisis. For decades, residents complained. When it rained, raw sewage would flood their yards and bubble up their sinks, causing terrible smells and sights.  The investigation marked the first time that the federal government finished an environmental justice inquiry using the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

At the time, Kristen Clarke, the first Black woman to lead the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, said this was a “new chapter for Black residents of Lowndes County, Alabama, who have endured health dangers, indignities, and racial injustice for far too long.” 

But two years later, this “new chapter” for nationwide racial and environmental justice has become more of a footnote. 

Last week, in an unprecedented move, the Trump administration said it would reverse the civil rights settlement. The agreement had forced Alabama to stop using strict sanitation laws that punished poor residents with fines or jail time when they could not afford to fix their sewage problems. It also included plans for public health education and repairs. At the same time, the Biden administration gave millions of dollars to local organizations to speed up the process of installing new septic systems in the county.

But when ending the agreement, the Trump administration called this work “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.” The DOJ said it was “working quickly” to close other civil rights investigations brought by residents across the country claiming they were being disproportionately exposed to environmental issues like air and water pollution because of their race, religion, sex, or national origin. 

“We have heard from people throughout rural America where their systems are failing. The soil does not discriminate there. There’s no DEI in soil.”

Catherine Coleman Flowers, founder, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice

The Alabama Department of Public Health, which was mandated to follow through on the improvements outlined in the agreement, said it will keep working with local partners to install septic systems as long as current funding lasts, but after that, it can only offer technical support since “the installation of sanitation systems and related infrastructure is outside the authority or responsibilities conferred upon ADPH by state law,” according to ADPH spokesman Ryan Easterling. For residents, this means that while some help may continue in the short term, the long-term outlook for fixing sewage problems is uncertain and will depend on future funding and outside organizations stepping in to fill the gap.

But under the Trump administration, federal and philanthropic support for environmental organizations has dwindled. Bradley, who created the Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Program after retiring from the ADPH, told Inside Climate News that she is not sure what that means for the future of her work. Her organization has already helped more than 100 rural families install new septic tanks, which carry a price tag upward of $20,000. Still, there are hundreds of more families that have signed up for help. 

An estimated 80% of residents in Alabama’s Black Belt are not connected to municipal sewage lines. Because of high poverty rates, many are forced to rely on private waste management systems that frequently fail due to the region’s impermeable clay soil. Many households still use outdated straight-pipe systems, which discharge untreated sewage directly into yards, creating severe public health risks.

The cost of installing a compliant private system ranging from $5,000 to $22,000 is out of reach for most, as nearly one-third of the region’s residents live in poverty, which is why federal support was so necessary. This lack of adequate wastewater infrastructure has led to widespread exposure to raw sewage, with a 2017 study in one county finding that 73% of residents had sewage inside their homes and one-third tested positive for hookworm, a disease thought to be eradicated in the U.S.

Residents told Capital B they have already felt positive impacts from the 2-year-old civil rights agreement and believe there is momentum for the work to continue without federal support, as long as there is funding from other sources. 

Catherine Coleman Flowers, who founded the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice and is often credited with bringing Alabama’s sewage problems to national recognition, agreed, but said she is most concerned about Alabama potentially reinstating its old policies. 

“With the agreement in place, there were no arrests. People tend to forget that when I started doing this work back in 2002, they were actually arresting people who could not afford working septic systems,” she said. “I pray that does not happen again — they don’t criminalize people, as opposed to trying to help them find meaningful solutions to treat wastewater, to protect their health and the public health as well.” 

She emphasized that the future now depends on whether funding will continue: “I’m concerned about that, and hopefully the funding that has come through other agencies will not be taken away to prevent people from receiving systems.” She added that without federal oversight, she is afraid that local officials or program leaders might use leftover funding for purposes other than it was intended, an issue the county faced before.

Flowers also pointed out that the problem is not unique to Alabama: “We have heard from people throughout rural America where their systems are failing. The soil does not discriminate there. There’s no DEI in soil.” 

She called for a national commitment to finding a sustainable solution, warning that heavier rains are making individual septic systems obsolete. 

The move adds to Trump’s sweeping attack on environmental justice initiatives since returning to office. Last month, the EPA closed its environmental justice and “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” offices at the direction of Trump. Environmental justice is a term used to describe policies meant to lower the disproportionate environmental threats that lower income and minority communities face.

The administration has also rolled back environmental regulations meant to protect residents from pollution-induced health issues — and the country’s natural environment, like waterways and forests, from being destroyed. In addition, it has fired hundreds of scientists tasked with crafting these regulations and tracking the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events like hurricanes, heat waves, and wildfires.