Trump Ended an Agreement to Fix Sewage Issues in This Predominantly Black County. Residents Want to Know What’s Next.

“[Trust issues] are probably gonna come back immediately,” one Lowndes County resident said. “Some of them don’t know and don’t understand where to go, who to talk to, and again, who to trust.”

Lowndes County

Julie Bennett/AP

FORT DEPOSIT, Ala. — The constituents at Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell’s town hall in Lowndes County on Wednesday all seemed to want to know the same thing: How did the congresswoman plan to combat their problems with wastewater treatment?

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice terminated a settlement agreement with the Alabama Department of Public Health to resolve sewage issues in Lowndes County, a predominantly Black county near Montgomery. The agreement was reached in 2023 under the Biden administration and addressed wastewater issues that go back decades and had long drawn national attention because of the health risks associated with them.

But the Trump administration announced it was ending the agreement in order to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive actions targeting “environmental justice.”