In what’s the most perfect possible metaphor for the EPA’s year, the agency’s offices are now covered in, uh, a bunch of shit. Welp.
According to a report from E&E News on December 14, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Washington offices are experiencing some rather severe plumbing problems. How severe? From E&E News:
The employee, speaking with colleagues, heard there had been black sludge coming out of the water fountains, whose odor wafted into adjacent offices.
Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, said he was told “a sewer problem at EPA HQ has resulted in poop exploding out of water fountains” outside the policy office.
The shit-filled fountains appear to be on display in this image floating around Twitter. The Outline was unable to confirm the veracity of the photo, but we’ve reached out to the EPA and will update if we hear back. (If the image is a fake, congratulations to the genius who created it, we love you.)
A water fountain at the EPA backed up and started spewing sewage into the hallway https://t.co/ct1LtxAO2Mpic.twitter.com/WdZVVlNt5O
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) December 15, 2017
Of course, it’s a fitting finale to the EPA’s first year under President Trump. In June, EPA chief Scott Pruitt announced a proposal to repeal Obama-era protections on small U.S. waterways, including those that provide drinking water for a significant portion of Americans. Sewage spewing out of water fountains? We'll be lucky if that's the worst of it.
Update 12/15/2017 2:27PM: E&E News has now added the water fountain image circulating on Twitter to its story, crediting Dan Becker with the Safe Climate Campaign as the photo's originator. We've reached out to Dan for more details.
