The frail water system of Mississippi's capital buckled under the strain of longstanding issues and recent flooding of the Pearl River, and now over 150,000 people are left without drinkable running water for an "undetermined amount of time," officials said.
Published Aug. 30, 2022 6:07 PM EDT | Updated Aug. 30, 2022 9:12 PM EDT
The governor of Mississippi declared a state of emergency on Tuesday after warning Jackson residents would have "little or no" drinkable running water for an "undetermined amount of time" after pumps at the main water plant failed, impacting over 150,000 people in the state's capital and largest city.
"Until it is fixed, it means we do not have reliable running water at scale. It means the city cannot produce enough water to fight fires, to reliably flush toilets and to meet other critical needs," Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said during an emergency briefing Monday evening.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba declared a water system emergency Monday as issues at the O.B. Curtis Water Plant, the city's main water plant, resulted in dwindling water pressure. The city linked the problem to complications from the Pearl River flooding.
"Please, stay safe," Reeves said. "Do not drink the water."
Hinds County Emergency Management Operations Deputy Director Tracy Funches, right, and Operations Coordinator Luke Chennault wade through floodwaters in northeast Jackson, Mississippi, Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, as they check water levels. Flooding affected a number of neighborhoods that are near the Pearl River. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Reeves announced in the Monday briefing that the O.B. Curtis plant had been operating with no backup equipment of equal capacity, and the main pumps had recently been severely damaged around the same time as the prolonged boil water notice.
Jackson has been under a boil water alert for a month due to cloudiness in the treated water.
"We were told on Friday that there was no way to predict exactly when, but that it was a near certainty that Jackson would fail to produce running water sometime in the next several weeks or months if something did not materially improve," Reeves said.
The backup pumps that had been making up for the failure of the main pump at O.B. Curtis failed on Monday.
A recruit for the Jackson, Mississippi, Fire Department puts cases of bottled water in a resident's truck, Aug. 18, 2022, as part of the city's response to longstanding water system problems. On Monday, Aug. 29, 2022, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said he's declaring a state of emergency after excessive rainfall worsened problems in one of Jackson’s already troubled water treatment plants. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
The O.B. Curtis plant typically treats 50 million gallons per day, but with its failure, the city's second water treatment plant, Fewell, will boost its normal production of 20 million gallons per day to 30 million, officials said.
Until the situation is resolved, residents have been advised to boil water before using it to cook or brush their teeth, officials said. Reeves added the state was prepared to distribute alternative sources of water and activated the Mississippi National Guard to help.
Jackson public schools announced Monday that beginning Tuesday, Aug. 30, the district would shift to virtual learning and would work with city officials to determine when students and staff can safely return.
Jackson Public Works Director Marlin King was reassigned Tuesday morning, according to WLBT News, which reported that King said his reassignment was not related to the city's ongoing water issues. The decision was made after he spoke with the mayor.
"He asked me to come in and identify some issues. I've identified them and he's now going to bring in someone who can work through them," King said.
He told WLBT the issues "include employee mismanagement, a poor work environment, and vendors going unpaid."
For decades, city leaders have faced a corroding network of water lines prone to breaks after previous administrations deferred its maintenance either due to cost, inaction or both, the Clarion Ledger reported.
A spotlight was placed on the frail system in February 2021 after a powerful winter storm slammed the South, straining Jackson's infrastructure as water treatment plants froze, and some Jackson residents were without clean running water for as long as a month.
James Spiva, a member of New Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, left, hands out a bottle of hand sanitizer and reusable face masks to a resident on March 1, 2021, at a Jackson, Mississippi, water distribution site on the church's parking lot. Non-potable water as well as bottled water was provided for area residents and was being distributed at seven sites in Mississippi's capital city — more than 10 days after winter storms wreaked havoc on the city's water system. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Community leaders at the time pointed to the underlying issues that had coalesced into the water crisis the city was experiencing and continues to see -- a water system not built with longevity in mind and a lack of funding at the state and federal levels.
Since the early 1970s when white families fled Jackson following the desegregation of schools in the city, the majority-white state leadership response to aid requests from Jackson has typically been slow or nonexistent, Donna Ladd, the founding editor of The Jackson Free Press, wrote in an opinion piece for NBC following the winter storm in 2021. Discrimination against the city, she added, came in the form of withholding financial resources, and the lack of recourse, in turn, led to the failure to maintain the city's water and sewer systems following the winter storm.
Jackson's population is more than 80% Black or African American, according to U.S. Census data.
Michael Regan, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, toured the O.B. Curtis plant in 2021 to highlight "longstanding environmental justice concerns in historically marginalized communities."
"We've actually been lifting up our persistent water challenges for the better part of two years, crying out for any assistance that we could get," Lumumba, the city's mayor, told The Hill Tuesday, adding that there were some persistent gains in the system as some residents regained water pressure in their homes.
"There have been a number of challenges that our system faces," he continued. "What I have been lifting up for the better part of two years is that it's not a matter of if our systems will fail, but when our systems will fail."
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