Petition for Emergency Action Under the Safe Drinking Water Act

On April 15, 2024 JHA and others joined the Coalition to Decarcerate Illinois outside of the Environmental Protection Agency to deliver a legal petition to address the critical issue of unsafe drinking water and aging infrastructure that incarcerated community members have been forced to deal with for the past decades.

The Coalition demanded emergency action from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Safe Drinking Water Act “imminent and substantial endangerment” authority to protect the thousands of Black, brown, and other individuals incarcerated in IDOC. Incarcerated people’s health and well-being are constantly at risk because of IDOC’s neglect to provide clean water and sanitation systems. These decades of neglect have led to Legionella contamination, lack of access to running water, and sewage flooding.