On March 6, 2020, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) staff destroyed 18 boxes of records relating to the development of water quality standards for Kansas. The records were damaged in late 2019 when a sprinkler head in an EPA building broke and the boxes were soaked. EPA facilities attempted to dry the records, but they were not fully restored. The boxes were later found to contain mold. EPA's Records Officer subsequently contacted the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), seeking an "emergency disposal" order, which would allow EPA to destroy the records. (Under federal law (44 U.S.C. Chapter 33), approval must be obtained from NARA before destroying federal records.) Before NARA responded, and without its knowledge, the records were destroyed by EPA. NARA subsequently advised EPA that the records could likely be restored. According to a report by CREW, instead of advising NARA that the documents had already been destroyed, EPA "appeared to string NARA along by inviting NARA to view the records in person, but claiming that given the coronavirus pandemic they did not have the PPE needed to give NARA access. Despite several requests from NARA for updates . . . , EPA did not admit they illegally destroyed the records."