My state of Mississippi has been in the news lately and not for too many positive things…..Roe decision…..upholds Jim Crow laws….and now the neglect that has come to bite the people of the state in the ass.
Around the capitol city of Jackson is paying a hard price for our politicians neglect….the infrastructure….
For the 150,000 or so residents of Jackson, Miss., the water situation is a mess. The capital city’s main treatment plant was on the brink of collapse, with most households having little or no water pressure. And if residents are lucky enough to have a trickle from their faucets, that water isn’t safe to drink, reports the New York Times. Public schools have switched to virtual learning in the interim, and local businesses were scrambling. Coverage:
- Emergency: “Until it is fixed, it means we do not have reliable running water at scale,” said Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves in a briefing Monday evening. “It means the city cannot produce enough water to fight fires, to reliably flush toilets, and to meet other critical needs.” Reeves declared an emergency and said the state was mobilizing to provide bottled water for residents and a tanker system for firefighters, but he warned that the logistics of such an effort were “massively complicated.”
Latest trouble: This week, heavy rains caused the Pearl River to flood city streets, and though the flooding itself wasn’t as bad as initially feared, it worsened already existing water problems in the city and affected the OB Curtis treatment plant. The facility had to drastically cut water production because of the flooding’s effect on a nearby reservoir, reports WLBT.
- Earlier issues: The city already had been under a “boil water” advisory for a month because of poor water quality, reports CNN. In fact, the Curtis plant has been operating on backup pumps for weeks because of unspecified damage to its main pumps. And in February 2021, the city’s entire water system shut down during a winter storm, with aging pipes and mains bursting and leaving residents without water for weeks.
- ‘Failure’: Gov. Reeves said the state began preparing over the weekend “for a scenario where Jackson would be without running water for an extended period,” per CNN. “All of this was with the prayer that we would have more time before their system ran to failure,” the governor said. “Unfortunately, that failure appears to have begun [Monday].”
- The mayor: Reeves didn’t invite Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba to his news conference, notes Mississippi Today. Earlier Monday, Lumumba declared a “water system emergency” but suggested the water-pressure issues might be resolved in a few days. Reeves painted a more dire picture. The GOP governor said he hadn’t spoken directly with the Democratic mayor as of Monday evening, but he said the mayor had agreed to cooperate with state officials.
This is for those that would like to know more about the failure of Mississippi government….
As many as 180,000 people in Jackson, Mississippi will not have access to safe running water for the foreseeable future, state officials said Monday night—the latest manifestation of a longstanding crisis in which the city’s residents have been made to suffer the consequences of chronically underfunded infrastructure, compounded by a worsening climate emergency.
“Do not drink the water,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said at a press conference. “In too many cases, it is raw water from the reservoir being pushed through the pipes. Be smart, protect yourself, protect your family, preserve water, look out for your fellow man, and look out for your neighbors.”
Reeves, a Republican who has refused to prioritize upgrading Jackson’s failing infrastructure throughout his two years in office, declared a state of emergency and announced, “We need to provide water for up to 180,000 people for an unknown period of time.”
“This is a very different situation from a boil-water notice,” Reeves continued. “Until it is fixed, we do not have reliable running water at scale. The city cannot produce enough water to fight fires, to flush toilets, and to meet other critical needs. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency will take the state’s lead on distributing drinking water and non-drinking water to residents of the City of Jackson.”
As usual the state government can only react to a disaster for they are not smart enough to foresee any disaster approaching.
As bad as their governing is the voter will buy into their nonsense and re-elect the dullards to continue to screw the people of this state.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
In Saner Thought 
I suppose I should not be shocked, but I have a degree of shock. The blatant disregard of those people affected is shocking, but sadly not surprising. Sometimes, I feel I have lived for too long, and the shocks keep coming around in a depressing cycle until I am simply numb to the injustice.
Best wishes, Pete.
And the voter has a short memory….and votes against their own best interests….so sad chuq
So, government officials had the time to spend state dollars to enforce their citizen’s rights to have rights…all the while the state is a dilapidated mess. I was in Jackson in 2016 and was saddened by how decrepit much of downtown was…
So sad…have you seen the Delta region? It is shocking how dilapidated it is. chuq
The state needs to pass an emergency measure to have safe water trucked or flown in until the mechanics are fixed.
They have a plan….but I cannot see it being much immediate help chuq
The logistics would be horrifying to imagine.
Along the Coast Mississippi is asking for donations of water for Jackson…..chuq
Donations of water that some crook will undoubtedly make a profit on before the water ever reaches those who need it, right?
Sounds like a usual plan to me chuq