The city’s troubled water system has been plagued with problems for years. In February 2021, a winter storm shut down Jackson’s entire water system, leaving tens of thousands of residents without water for a month amid the Covid-19 pandemic. On Monday afternoon — as Jacksonians dealt with record rain that sent the Pearl River cresting dangerously high — Reeves announced that the city was failing to produce running water. “It means we don’t have reliable running water at scale. It means the city can’t produce enough water to fight fires, reliably flush toilets and meet other critical needs,” Reeves said. As a result, officials announced that all Jackson Public Schools will switch to virtual learning on Tuesday. The water pressure issue is on top of a boil water notice last month due to a water quality issue. Authorities said the water is not safe to drink or use when brushing teeth. “Please stay safe. Don’t drink the water. In too many cases, it’s raw reservoir water being pushed through the pipes,” Reeves told Jackson residents. “Be smart, protect yourself, protect your family.” Residents are told to conserve water resources and boil any water they use for three minutes. The state is expected to call in the National Guard to help distribute potable and non-potable water as crews work to bring the water treatment plant back online, state officials said. “Replacing our largest city’s running water infrastructure with human distribution is an extremely complex logistical task,” Reeves said. “We need to provide this for up to 180,000 people for an unknown period of time.” In addition to preparing to distribute water to residents, the state is setting up a tanker system to deliver water to fire trucks as Jackson loses the ability to get water from fire hydrants, officials said.
A system that has long been plagued with problems
The problem stems from one of two water treatment facilities in the city, the OB Curtis plant, which is run by the city of Jackson, according to the governor. “OB Curtis is not operating anywhere near capacity. And we may find out tomorrow that it is not operating at all,” Reeves said. OB Curtis is intended to provide approximately 50 million gallons for the city daily. The other plant, which normally supplies about 20 million gallons a day, has been approved to increase production amid the shortage, authorities said. The main pumps at OB Curtis were severely damaged, and the facility began operating with smaller backup pumps about a month ago, around the same time an extended boil water advisory began, the governor said. The governor said he was told Friday that “it was almost certain that Jackson would fail to produce running water at some point in the next few weeks or months if something didn’t improve substantially,” the governor said. Over the weekend, state officials began developing water distribution plans and “preparing for a scenario where Jackson would be without running water for an extended period of time.” “This was all done with the prayer that we would have more time before their system failed,” Reeves said. “Unfortunately, that failure appears to have begun today.” Jackson Mayor Chokwe Adar Lumumba declared a water emergency on Monday, saying the recent flooding of the Pearl River is responsible for the latest water pressure problems. “As one crisis can be averted, another rears its head,” Lumumba said during a press conference after his address on the city’s floods. The mayor said that because OB Curtis received additional water from the reservoir during the flood, the facility had to change the way it processes water, which led to less water being pumped into the system and lower water levels. of the tank. This is affecting the water pressure in residents’ homes, he said. “It’s no secret to any of us that we have a very fragile water treatment facility,” the mayor said, adding that the outage “could potentially last for a few days.” Jackson has had ongoing challenges with its water system, and some residents have already reported low to no water pressure and raw sewage flowing into the city’s streets and neighborhoods. Lumumba previously told CNN that a lack of political will and years of neglect at the national level have prevented Jackson from getting the help he needs to fix the water and sanitation crisis. In addition to infrastructure issues, the plant has also faced staffing issues, according to the mayor and governor. “A very small number of heroic frontline workers were trying hard to keep the system together, but it was nearly impossible,” the governor said.
