LOCALIZE IT: Trump cuts threaten to widen inequality where failing sewage systems harm homes, health
EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:
Scores of communities across the country suffer from aging and decrepit wastewater systems that put residents’ health and homes at risk. These are often rural places or declining cities without the money or expertise to fix the problems themselves, requiring federal or state help.
The AP found that hundreds of millions in grants, loans and technical help promised by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and President Joe Biden’s administration to address racial and economic disparities have been canceled or targeted for elimination under President Donald Trump.
Many of these eliminations are part of the administration’s targeting of initiatives like environmental justice that they deem DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion.
In the worst places, the problems make people miserable. Cahokia Heights, Illinois, for example, regularly floods; when it rains especially hard, sewage can back up into yards and homes, where it’s destroyed furniture, cracked walls and warped floors.
At least 17 million Americans are served by the roughly 1,000 wastewater systems nationwide in serious violation of federal pollution limits. And at least 2.7 million are served by the most troubled — wastewater systems concentrated in rural areas that have consistently and repeatedly violated clean water rules and whose customers earn, on average, nearly $12,000 less per household than the U.S. average.
___
READ AP’S COVERAGE
Poor communities threatened by aging sewers see crucial aid slashed under Trump
Takeaways from AP reporting on Trump administration cuts affecting US water systems
___
LOOK AT THE DATA: ARE THERE TROUBLED WASTEWATER SYSTEMS NEAR YOU?
The Environmental Protection Agency’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System places controls on any facility that discharges pollutants into local waterways — lakes, rivers and streams. This includes around 16,000 wastewater systems that serve communities across the U.S. You can see an EPA map of these utilities here.
Wastewater plants treat water before releasing it back into the local environment. But if they fail to bring pollutants down to an acceptable level, they may incur penalties from state regulators or the EPA. Those contaminants can include harmful chemicals such as heavy metals or industrial compounds, but also often include solids, bacteria and excess nutrients (like nitrogen or phosphorus) that can foul waterways, harm aquatic life and pose risks to human health.
In the data, which you can find on this spreadsheet, we show wastewater systems that have recently been “significantly noncompliant” with these EPA limits because of issues stemming from these sorts of effluent violations. You can interpret the tabs of the spreadsheet like so:
“Currently out of compliance” — These systems were “significantly non-compliant” as of the last quarter of 2025.
“At least 6 of 12 quarters” — These systems were “significantly non-compliant” during at least half of the last three years.
“All 12 quarters” — These are the worst offenders, systems that consistently failed to adequately treat wastewater in the last three years.
Nearly all states are mentioned in the data.
___
HOW IS THIS USEFUL FOR REPORTING?
The reports used to compile the above data are flags worth checking for flooding that affected homes. Local community groups, fire departments and health officials may be able to point to what neighborhoods flood even from small rainstorms.
If there are problems, there’s a story in just talking to people. An AP reporter walking around Cahokia Heights, Illinois, quickly found people who let him into their homes to show how flooding had worsened their lives. One resident described bleaching their apartment to get the wet smell and mold out, another showed her water-worn floors, warped into waves.
It’s important to ask people how long conditions have been bad — in Cahokia Heights, it had been years and years — if local officials have promised improvements and whether anything has gotten better.
A problem called sanitary sewage overflows, where untreated sewage escapes from the sewer system sometimes filling basements, yards and streets, is especially pernicious. Untreated sewage can lead to disease and it is important that when this happens in someone’s home, they disinfect. The EPA keeps basic information about it here. These should almost never occur in your community.
When sewage overflows occur, most utilities are required to report them to state environmental regulators. While a handful of states report their data electronically to the EPA, most do not. It’s complicated, but the data from the states that do can be found here. Reporters may consider requesting “sanitary sewer overflow” or “SSO” data from their state environmental regulator, keeping in mind disclosure practices and public databases vary widely. A quick question to the agency — or even to the utility itself — might provide faster information for your location.
___
OK, I FOUND THE BAD AREAS, NOW WHAT?
If these places exist, then it’s a matter of figuring out why. Community leaders should be able to explain what they are doing to fix things and, importantly, whether there is enough of a local tax base to pay for it. If there isn’t, then how are they trying to find funding from the state or federal government.
At the state level, environmental departments often facilitate state revolving funds, which offer low-interest loans and grants for infrastructure projects. There are two. One for drinking water needs and the other for water quality, which includes wastewater. State officials may be able to tell you whether the community has sought funding and whether it was a high enough priority project to receive some.
On the federal level, your congressional delegation should be able to tell you what is being done to secure funding and whether that money is from earmarks or other sources. The Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies have programs, too, and you can ask your local representatives if they are working with those agencies to secure funding or help the local government apply for grants.
It may be that some state or federal funding will be flowing to the community. But how fast will the situation improve for residents and what’s being done to shorten that timeline are questions worth asking.
___
EMBED THIS CHART
Many wastewater plants in the U.S. fail to remove contaminants, putting at risk people exposed to that water. This is especially true in low-income areas. This chart is current as of Jan. 6, 2026 and will not update. Source: Environmental Protection Agency
To embed, insert this code into your CMS:
!– start AP embed —
iframe title=“Low-income areas face more wastewater problems” aria-label=“Bar Chart” id=“ap-chart-H7SBD” src=“https://interactives.ap.org/embeds/H7SBD/8/” scrolling=“no” width=“100%” style=“border:none” height=“382″/iframescript type=“text/javascript”!function()(“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(e)(if(void 0!==e.data(“datawrapper-height”))(var t=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var a in e.data(“datawrapper-height”))for(var r=0;rt.length;r++)(if(t(r).contentWindow===e.source)t(r).style.height=e.data(“datawrapper-height”)(a)+“px”))))))();/script
!– end AP embed —
___
Localize It is a resource produced regularly by The Associated Press for its customers’ use. Questions can be directed to the Local News Success team at localizeit@ap.org. View guides published in the last 30 days here.
