Jackson's water emergency exposes a dilemma for Biden

The drinking water disaster in Jackson, Miss., injects new urgency into a looming challenge for President Joe Biden: delivering federal money to communities that need it most.

The problem is most acute for impoverished communities with large minority populations — those that Biden’s administration hopes to help with promises to steer money to places reeling from decades of pollution and inequity.

Torrential downpours shuttered Jackson’s long-ailing wastewater treatment plant this week, sparking a crisis that left more than 150,000 of the city’s 160,000 residents without drinking water. Mississippians and advocates...