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Should it be, though?

Forget the US constitution entirely, in the abstract why should a country not mandate that if a municipality provide water service, that it be safe to drink? Is that inherently different from setting minimum standards for pollution etc? The water's still unsafe to drink regardless of the cause.

It seems like often there's an "is/ought" thing going on with Americans, people look at the design of the american system and say that X feature is great, without considering the actual impact that feature has had.




> why should a country not mandate that if a municipality provide water service, that it be safe to drink?

The US does mandate this.

https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/drinking-water-regulations

And the EPA started taking action in Jackson more than a year ago: https://www.epa.gov/ms/jackson-ms-drinking-water

The problem is that local leaders have the ability to just suck at their job and not make smart long term decisions. And often, this is caused by local opinions about spending priorities and opinions on the role of government.




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