The Pennsylvania constitution is clear: residents of the commonwealth have a right to clean, safe drinking water.
But that doesn’t mean the funding to make sure that happens is always available.
Over the last decade, cuts to the Department of Environmental Protection have drastically reduced Pennsylvania’s complement of water quality inspectors. That means the onus of making sure drinking water meets health and safety standards is falling on fewer and fewer people.
The situation is bad enough that the federal government has sent multiple notices warning that water inspections aren’t up to par. But with the state already having trouble paying for its daily expenses, there’s not much money left to improve DEP staffing and infrastructure.
PennLive’s Wallace McKelvey walks us through the situation.
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