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When destitute small towns mean dangerous tap water

Deborah Elaine-Jones, tax clerk for the Town of Ferriday, talks with water plant operator Mike Gandy inside the newer water plant facility in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Deborah Elaine-Jones, tax clerk for the Town of Ferriday, talks with water plant operator Mike Gandy inside the newer water plant facility in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Deborah Elaine-Jones, tax clerk for the Town of Ferriday, talks with water plant operator Mike Gandy inside the newer water plant facility in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Deborah Elaine-Jones, tax clerk for the Town of Ferriday, talks with water plant operator Mike Gandy inside the newer water plant facility in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Deborah Elaine-Jones, tax clerk for the Town of Ferriday, talks with water plant operator Mike Gandy inside the newer water plant facility in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Deborah Elaine-Jones, tax clerk for the Town of Ferriday, talks with water plant operator Mike Gandy inside the newer water plant facility in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Deborah Elaine-Jones, tax clerk for the Town of Ferriday, talks with water plant operator Mike Gandy inside the newer water plant facility in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Deborah Elaine-Jones, tax clerk for the Town of Ferriday, talks with water plant operator Mike Gandy inside the newer water plant facility in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Plant operator Mike Gandy flushes sand out of a filter as part of the newer water plant equipment in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. The water is now tested regularly and plant operators are working on new treatment methods. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Aged infrastructure is seen in the recently retired water treatment plant in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) The Rev. James Edward Smith, Sr., who is a consultant to help improve the water system in Ferriday, La., speaks at the town water plant in Ferriday, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. Smith said the water is now significantly improved. It's tested regularly and plant operators are working on new treatment methods. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Kenyetta Hunt visits a spring along Route 52 in McDowell County, W.Va., where he and his family have collected water for decades because they don't trust the water provided by local utilities in their homes on June 7, 2022. Hunt said he visits the spring at least once a week to fill five gallon jugs of water to use for drinking and cooking. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham) Donna Dickerson drinks a cup of tap water on the porch of her trailer in Keystone, W.Va., on June 22, 2022. For about a decade before being hooked up to a new water system late last year, residents of Keystone like Dickerson were told to boil water before drinking it for a decade because of the community's aging infrastructure. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham) Mitoya Wilson sits in her car with her daughter Charleigh Wilson, 8, as she talks about the history of troubles with the town drinking water, in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Water plant operator Mike Gandy takes a water sample of the Ferriday water system from neighboring Ridgecrest, La., which is now in the Ferriday system, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. The water is now tested regularly and plant operators are working on new treatment methods. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Deborah Elaine-Jones, tax clerk for the town of Ferriday, talks on her phone inside the older, now retired water plant facility in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. The water is now tested regularly and plant operators are working on new treatment methods. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Jameel Green speaks to The Associated Press about the drinking water in Ferriday, La., on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. He said he will not drink the water and tells his kids not to drink the water, too. (AP Photo/Michael Phillis) Water plant operator Mike Gandy takes a water sample of the Ferriday water system from a neighborhood in neighboring Ridgecrest, La., which is now in the Ferriday system, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. The water is now tested regularly and plant operators are working on new treatment methods. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Plant operator Mike Gandy flushes sand out of a filter as part of the newer water plant equipment in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. The water is now tested regularly and plant operators are working on new treatment methods. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Calbrial Smith, center, holds her son Torosiay Smith, Jr., 9 months, outside her home with family and friends, as she talks about what she believes are the effect of the drinking water on her children's health, in Ferriday, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) Toney Lewis shows a bottle of tap water he saved, before his neighborhood was recently switched to the current Ferriday, La. water system, in Ridgecrest, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. In many places, people struggle to find water or else drink water that isn't clean. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)