Jackson, Mississippi, the state’s largest city and home to more than 160,000 residents, is heading into its third day without drinking water.
Residents of Jackson, Mississippi are frustrated and angry, now that a long-neglected water treatment plant has finally failed. According to Mississippi Today, thousands of Jackson residents already have little or no water pressure, and officials cannot say when adequate, reliable service will be restored.
Many businesses were shuttered again in the city of Jackson, while local schools and Jackson State University, a historically Black college, resumed classes online. Store shelves once packed with bottled water stood empty as residents waited for cases of water to be distributed later in the day.
“Jackson is in a water crisis and we do not trust what water we get to even bathe in,” said Cassandra Welchlin, 49, a social worker. She said her family of five was fortunate because they could shower at her sister’s place outside the city, reports Reuters.
The plant, long plagued by inadequate staffing and maintenance problems, broke down from complications after a weekend of heavy rain and flooding, angering residents of a city that is about 80 percent African-American.
Mayor Chokwe Lumumba told CNN he expected the water to be restored to residents by the end of the week.
On Monday, Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of Emergency and called up the National Guard to help distribute bottled water as crews work to get the water treatment plant back online, state officials said.
That event turned into a circus when residents of all ages were seen waiting in lines more than a mile long at Hawkins Field Airport for at least two hours Tuesday for just one case of bottled water. The event was supposed to span three hours but barely ran two as people were eventually turned away when the 700 cases of water ran out.
“I keep saying we’re going to be the next Michigan,” said Jeraldine Watts, 86, who was able to get water at a grocery store Monday night. “And it looks like that’s exactly what we’re headed for.”
Even before the crisis, the city had been under a boil water notice for the past month due to “elevated turbidity levels,” which makes the water appear cloudy. That followed a string of disruptions to the city’s water supply in recent years caused by high lead levels, bacterial contamination, and storm damage.
Reeves, a Republican, has alleged that the water treatment plant suffered from years of city mismanagement, while Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba has accused the state of failing to support efforts to maintain and update the plant.
The governor, who previously blamed pump failures, conceded that a scenario earlier presented by the mayor was correct: that floodwaters had entered the plant and altered the chemistry of the water. That rendered the existing treatment inadequate, forcing the plant to shut down.
Two weeks ago, reports WAPT.com, the EPA virtually joined Jackson City Council during a meeting over what to do about the water treatment plant’s crisis. An EPA representative said the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant isn’t adequately staffed with only two class-A operators and four vacancies at the plant. Class-A operators serve as supervisors of the plant.
“We have two operators that will be taking the class-A operator exam within the next month,” Public Works Director Marlin King said.
King told a city council committee Wednesday that his department is looking at hiring retired operators and have increased the salary for that position.
The EPA says the plant should have at least three class-A operators employed to ensure proper 24/7 plant operation. The EPA says these issues could complicate the city’s ability to secure more federal funding to fix several problems in the city’s water system.
