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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Mississippi governor declares emergency as Jackson water system fails

Governor Tate Reeves said 180,000 customers in the state capital may go days or weeks without potable water, after heavy rainfall exacerbated longstanding water treatment problems.

(CN) — An ongoing water crisis in Mississippi’s largest city escalated late Monday when Governor Tate Reeves announced that equipment failures and lack of staffing at a treatment plant have essentially rendered Jackson's water system inoperable.

The city's 160,000 residents have been under a boil-water notice since late July, but now pumps at the facility are unable to keep up with demand.

Water pressure is so low it cannot reach the upper floors of buildings essential to state government and education, while the system’s treatment processes have also failed. Currently, the lines are filled with raw water from the Ross Barnett Reservoir, which has swelled in recent days due to weeks of heavy rain. 

But Reeves was unable to say if the failures were weather-related, or when emergency repairs may be complete. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency is establishing an incident command center at the OB Curtis Water Treatment Facility, where it will coordinate with other agencies to distribute both potable and nonpotable water for 180,000 customers of the water system. 

“Until it is fixed it means we do not have reliable running water at scale,” Reeves said at a news conference Monday evening in which he declared a state of emergency. “It means the city cannot produce enough water to fight fires or reliably flush toilets and meet other critical needs.” 

Reeves called the state’s response to the crisis “a massively complicated logistical task” that will prioritize fire safety, sanitation and public health. The Mississippi National Guard will be activated to assist. He nodded toward the city of Jackson’s leadership for responsibility for the crisis, but said Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba has expressed a spirit of cooperation, while the city and state are expected to evenly split the cost of emergency repairs. Reeves also ensured contractors they would be paid for their work on the project.

“There is no silver bullet fix,” the governor cautioned, adding it could be days or weeks before the problem is solved. State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney said the health concerns are “significant” and customers should boil water for at least three minutes before use.

The water problems, which are also affecting the neighboring city of Fondren, have caused schools, restaurants and doctors' offices to close. Some legislators have requested a special session to address the crisis, but Reeves was hesitant. A permanent fix could cost upwards of $1 billion.

In a separate news conference Monday, Lumumba said the crisis was indeed due to water infiltration during the recent rains, but expressed gratitude that a larger flood threat had been averted as the water began to recede. The Pearl River, which feeds the reservoir, crested just below its flood stage Monday after the area received as much as 20 inches of rain in recent weeks.

The city’s water system has suffered in recent years due to mismanagement and a lack of funding, according to local news reports. In February 2021, Jackson water customers were under a nearly one-month boil-water notice after a winter storm froze pipes and water mains.

“It is no secret we have a very fragile water treatment facility,” Lumumba said. “This is a citywide challenge they are working diligently to recover from … but this is an outage that could potentially last for a few days.”

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Categories / Environment, Government, Health, Regional

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