Jackson, MS: Many in Mississippi's capital left with little or no water

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Many in Mississippi’s capital left with little or no water

November 16, 2021

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Residents of Mississippi’s capital city are being warned to boil water before using it because of low pressure in the aging water system.

The citywide alert was issued after a problem occurred during the weekend at one of Jackson’s water treatment plants, WAPT-TV reported. Charles Williams, the city’s chief engineer, said the issue was resolved but it had drained the storage tanks.

Pressure dropped after the city cut off treatment at one of the plants after a worker discovered a bad batch of treatment chemicals were used, WLBT-TV reported. The worker found the problem Sunday, but the pressure did not drop below the threshold until Monday evening.

About 10,000 to 15,000 customers were temporarily without water Tuesday. Several Jackson schools shifted to all-virtual classes for Tuesday because they lacked water.

The problems arose as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Michael Regan, toured Jackson on Monday to examine the problems with the city’s water infrastructure. It was the first of several stops Regan is making to historically marginalized communities in the South.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/health-mississippi-jackson-water-treatment-8fe5a9c20c1fef61b344075c58808848

[Haggard Celine]

1. Jackson used to be a lot of fun.

I lived near there when I was in college, back in the late 80s and early 90s. My friends and I spent a lot of time in Jackson, going out to some unique places and shopping. Now you can't drive your car in Jackson without being beaten to death by the awful roads. I'm not surprised they're having major problems with the water system now. Seems like they're just letting the city go to seed.

White flight from Jackson was beginning in earnest back then. Now it's just about complete. A majority of the city is black and many are poor. They've lost their tax base, so they don't have a lot of funds to get a lot of the needed work done. I don't know if they can get some money from the state in order to get some things fixed. Jackson is not a good place to live or to go out in any more, and that's such a shame. Hope they can turn things around soon.

[bem6207]

2. Yes, it's been awful.

I’ve had a few coworkers who had to shift to telework due to the schools. Thankful our employer invested in the tools needed to efficiently work from home, and the option remains permanently.

I have high hopes the City will finally receive the appropriate funding to get this fixed! All the Governor cares about is keeping Critical Race Theory out of the schools and voter suppression. I am sick of these sheep!!