Jackson Mississippi Water Crisis Repairs Begin At Water Treatment Plant But Residents Still Without Clean Water

A rental pump to be installed Wednesday at the treatment plant will help add 4 million gallons of water a day to the system, officials believe. The state also contracted with outside agencies to begin work on critical emergency repairs. “We are flushing the bad water out of the system and making engineering improvements to prevent an even more catastrophic failure,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said during a news conference Wednesday. However, even as repairs are made, service has been fluctuating and the governor warned: “There will be future disruptions … they cannot be avoided at this point.” “Our immediate priority is to have running water, even temporarily sacrificing some quality standards where absolutely necessary, to meet basic sanitation and safety needs,” Reeves said, urging residents not to drink the water without boiling it. “We are optimistic that we will be able to increase the amount of water that will eventually fill the reservoirs and ultimately lead to a scenario where we can do the proper testing and actually produce clean water,” the governor said. “But we’re not there yet.”

Everyday life is turned upside down in Jackson

While authorities rush to make repairs, procure needed parts and deal with staffing shortages at Jackson’s water plants, the crisis disrupts daily life. Residents see cloudy, discolored water coming out of their taps and are told it should be sufficient for sanitary purposes. They cannot use the water for drinking, cooking or washing dishes, but they can shower and wash their hands in it, officials said. “Make sure in the shower that your mouth is not open,” Jim Craig, senior deputy and director of health protection at the Mississippi Department of Health, told residents Wednesday, adding that pets also should not consume the water. According to the mayor, it is unknown when residents will no longer have to boil water and that cannot be estimated until the water pressure returns to normal. Meanwhile, all Jackson Public Schools switched to virtual learning on Tuesday. Jackson State University also switched to online classes this week and set up portable showers and restrooms across campus. “It’s like we’re living in a nightmare right now,” sophomore Erin Washington told CNN. Another student described seeing brown, foul-smelling water coming out of faucets on campus. Businesses — many still trying to recover from Covid-19-related setbacks — are also struggling. Most affected is the city’s hospitality industry, said Jeff Rent, president and CEO of the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership. “Hotels and restaurants, already on tight margins, either cannot open or must make special accommodations, including buying ice, water and soft drinks,” Redd said. A father of five, Kehinde Gaynor, said the lack of water was frustrating for his family. “It’s devastating as a father because we’re the providers of the family. Right now, we’re just crippled because we have no control over what’s going on outside the home,” Gaynor said. Residents had to endure long lines to get bottled and non-potable water at city-run distribution points. Some sites this week ran out of water and turned people away. Supersites will be operational Thursday, making more water available to residents with the help of the National Guard, the governor said. Jackson resident Anita Shaw, 63, arrived early Thursday at a site where the Salvation Army was to distribute bottled water — a site the group says ran out of 2,700 cases a day earlier, before anyone could find one. Shaw expressed his frustration: Residents have been without clean water service for more than a month. not everyone can afford to keep buying bottles. and the lines for free water are long. The water coming out of her faucet Thursday was light brown, she told CNN. She still has to pay her $100 water bill, she said. “I paid $100 … and I can’t use the water,” Shaw said. “What good is paying the water bill when you can’t use the water?” President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Jackson, which Reeves said would allow Mississippi to tap into critical resources to respond to the crisis. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell will travel to Jackson on Friday, according to CNN.

Long-term fixes are needed

Although Jackson has had many water problems over the years, the severe problems have subsided since late July, when cloudy water was observed at the city’s OB Curtis Water Treatment Plant. The state imposed a boil water notice for Jackson because cloud cover makes the water more likely to contain disease-causing organisms. Around the same time, the main pumps at OB Curtis — the city’s main treatment plant — suffered severe damage, forcing the facility to operate on smaller backup pumps, Reeves said this week without specifying the damage. The city announced Aug. 9 that the problematic pumps had been taken offline. Last week, the governor was warned that Jackson would soon fail to produce running water, Reeves said. Then, flooding: Heavy rains last week pushed the Pearl River to overflow and flood some Jackson streets, peaking Monday. A reservoir’s water intake was affected by heavy rainfall, creating a chemical imbalance on the conventional treatment side of the plant, Craig said Wednesday. This affected the removal of particles, causing a temporary shutdown of that side of the plant and resulting in a loss of water distribution pressure. Even with the installation of the temporary pump Wednesday, there are still significant mechanical and electrical problems due to delayed maintenance, including various pumps and motors that need to be replaced and sludge in the basins that has built up to levels that are “unacceptable,” said Craig. Personnel issues further complicate matters, officials said. Jackson’s water system was also damaged in February 2021 when a severe winter storm hit, freezing and bursting pipes and leaving many residents without water for a month. That’s after the city’s water system in early 2020 failed an Environmental Protection Agency inspection, which found the drinking water had the potential to harbor harmful bacteria or parasites. In July 2021, the EPA and the city entered into an agreement to address “long-term challenges and make necessary improvements to the drinking water system.” The EPA also recently announced $74.9 million in federal water and sewer infrastructure funds for Mississippi. Advocates have previously pointed to systemic and environmental racism as among the causes of Jackson’s ongoing water problems and a lack of resources to address them. About 82.5% of Jackson’s population identifies as Black or African American, according to census data, while the state legislature is majority White. Asked Wednesday about allegations that the deterioration of water infrastructure in Jackson is the result of environmental racism, Reeves said the state does not manage water systems. “In the state of Mississippi, we have a large number of municipalities that operate their own water systems. We have a large number of rural water associations that operate their own water systems. Before Monday of this week, the state of Mississippi operates exactly zero water systems” , he said. CNN’s Amy Simonson, Melissa Alonso, Amara Walker, Isabel Rosales and Amir Vera contributed to this report.

title: “Jackson Mississippi Water Crisis Repairs Begin At Water Treatment Plant But Residents Still Without Clean Water Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-28” author: “Alana Dickson”

A rental pump to be installed Wednesday at the treatment plant will help add 4 million gallons of water a day to the system, officials believe. The state also contracted with outside agencies to begin work on critical emergency repairs. “We are flushing the bad water out of the system and making engineering improvements to prevent an even more catastrophic failure,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said during a news conference Wednesday. However, even as repairs are made, service has been fluctuating and the governor warned: “There will be future disruptions … they cannot be avoided at this point.” “Our immediate priority is to have running water, even temporarily sacrificing some quality standards where absolutely necessary, to meet basic sanitation and safety needs,” Reeves said, urging residents not to drink the water without boiling it. “We are optimistic that we will be able to increase the amount of water that will eventually fill the reservoirs and ultimately lead to a scenario where we can do the proper testing and actually produce clean water,” the governor said. “But we’re not there yet.”

Everyday life is turned upside down in Jackson

While authorities rush to make repairs, procure needed parts and deal with staffing shortages at Jackson’s water plants, the crisis disrupts daily life. Residents see cloudy, discolored water coming out of their taps and are told it should be sufficient for sanitary purposes. They cannot use the water for drinking, cooking or washing dishes, but they can shower and wash their hands in it, officials said. “Make sure in the shower that your mouth is not open,” Jim Craig, senior deputy and director of health protection at the Mississippi Department of Health, told residents Wednesday, adding that pets also should not consume the water. According to the mayor, it is unknown when residents will no longer have to boil water and that cannot be estimated until the water pressure returns to normal. Meanwhile, all Jackson Public Schools switched to virtual learning on Tuesday. Jackson State University also switched to online classes this week and set up portable showers and restrooms across campus. “It’s like we’re living in a nightmare right now,” sophomore Erin Washington told CNN. Another student described seeing brown, foul-smelling water coming out of faucets on campus. Businesses — many still trying to recover from Covid-19-related setbacks — are also struggling. Most affected is the city’s hospitality industry, said Jeff Rent, president and CEO of the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership. “Hotels and restaurants, already on tight margins, either cannot open or must make special accommodations, including buying ice, water and soft drinks,” Redd said. A father of five, Kehinde Gaynor, said the lack of water was frustrating for his family. “It’s devastating as a father because we’re the providers of the family. Right now, we’re just crippled because we have no control over what’s going on outside the home,” Gaynor said. Residents had to endure long lines to get bottled and non-potable water at city-run distribution points. Some sites this week ran out of water and turned people away. Supersites will be operational Thursday, making more water available to residents with the help of the National Guard, the governor said. Jackson resident Anita Shaw, 63, arrived early Thursday at a site where the Salvation Army was to distribute bottled water — a site the group says ran out of 2,700 cases a day earlier, before anyone could find one. Shaw expressed his frustration: Residents have been without clean water service for more than a month. not everyone can afford to keep buying bottles. and the lines for free water are long. The water coming out of her faucet Thursday was light brown, she told CNN. She still has to pay her $100 water bill, she said. “I paid $100 … and I can’t use the water,” Shaw said. “What good is paying the water bill when you can’t use the water?” President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Jackson, which Reeves said would allow Mississippi to tap into critical resources to respond to the crisis. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell will travel to Jackson on Friday, according to CNN.

Long-term fixes are needed

Although Jackson has had many water problems over the years, the severe problems have subsided since late July, when cloudy water was observed at the city’s OB Curtis Water Treatment Plant. The state imposed a boil water notice for Jackson because cloud cover makes the water more likely to contain disease-causing organisms. Around the same time, the main pumps at OB Curtis — the city’s main treatment plant — suffered severe damage, forcing the facility to operate on smaller backup pumps, Reeves said this week without specifying the damage. The city announced Aug. 9 that the problematic pumps had been taken offline. Last week, the governor was warned that Jackson would soon fail to produce running water, Reeves said. Then, flooding: Heavy rains last week pushed the Pearl River to overflow and flood some Jackson streets, peaking Monday. A reservoir’s water intake was affected by heavy rainfall, creating a chemical imbalance on the conventional treatment side of the plant, Craig said Wednesday. This affected the removal of particles, causing a temporary shutdown of that side of the plant and resulting in a loss of water distribution pressure. Even with the installation of the temporary pump Wednesday, there are still significant mechanical and electrical problems due to delayed maintenance, including various pumps and motors that need to be replaced and sludge in the basins that has built up to levels that are “unacceptable,” said Craig. Personnel issues further complicate matters, officials said. Jackson’s water system was also damaged in February 2021 when a severe winter storm hit, freezing and bursting pipes and leaving many residents without water for a month. That’s after the city’s water system in early 2020 failed an Environmental Protection Agency inspection, which found the drinking water had the potential to harbor harmful bacteria or parasites. In July 2021, the EPA and the city entered into an agreement to address “long-term challenges and make necessary improvements to the drinking water system.” The EPA also recently announced $74.9 million in federal water and sewer infrastructure funds for Mississippi. Advocates have previously pointed to systemic and environmental racism as among the causes of Jackson’s ongoing water problems and a lack of resources to address them. About 82.5% of Jackson’s population identifies as Black or African American, according to census data, while the state legislature is majority White. Asked Wednesday about allegations that the deterioration of water infrastructure in Jackson is the result of environmental racism, Reeves said the state does not manage water systems. “In the state of Mississippi, we have a large number of municipalities that operate their own water systems. We have a large number of rural water associations that operate their own water systems. Before Monday of this week, the state of Mississippi operates exactly zero water systems” , he said. CNN’s Amy Simonson, Melissa Alonso, Amara Walker, Isabel Rosales and Amir Vera contributed to this report.