Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency for Jackson and surrounding communities, warning the area’s 180,000 people to avoid drinking tap water. He also called up the state National Guard to assist in efforts to bring relief to the city, which was battered by record rainfall and flooding over the weekend.
Tankers distributed non-potable water and bottled drinking water was distributed at several sites, the city said. Vehicles driving up to the sites each received a case of water.
The shutdown created havoc for businesses, and Jackson public schools, with nearly 21,000 students, were forced to move classes online as they had done during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Unfortunately, this is not our first rodeo with this happening in Jackson,” said Jeff Good, 58, a proprietor of several local restaurants that closed on Tuesday.
A pair of winter storms in Feburary 2021 caused most residents in Jackson to briefly lose running water, and a year ago the US environmental protection agency issued an emergency order saying the water supply could contain E. Coli, according to Mississippi Today.
In 2016, customers were told of high lead levels in the city’s water supply caused by recurring faulty water treatment techniques.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Jackson mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba welcomed the state aid but his comments further exposed a rift between the Republican state officials and the Democratic administration of a city that is more than 80% African-American.
The governor had previously alleged the water treatment plant suffered from years of city mismangement, while the mayor accused the state of being absent from efforts to maintain and update the plant.
“We’ve been going it alone for the better part of two years,” Lumumba said. “And now we are excited to finally welcome the state to the table and all the valuable resources that they bring.”
No flushing toilets
The mayor said city and state officials have talked about tackling the challenge together, while city and state experts formed an incident command centre at the main O.B. Curtis water treatment plant in an attempt to restore service.
Still, each side offered different accounts on the cause of and result of the plant failure.
The governor said pumps at the Curtis water plant failed, and that untreated water entered the water supply.
The mayor, however, said floodwaters contributed to the treatment plant’s failure, because the changing composition of water overwhelmed the treatment plant, which sits next to a reservoir that drains into the Pearl River just north of town.
A second, smaller and older plant also came under stress when officials tried to increase its output to compensate, Lumumba said.
He also denied the governor’s contention that untreated water went to customers, who nonethless have been under a notice to boil their drinking water the past month due to “elevated turbidity levels,” which makes the water appear cloudy.
Until the treatment facility is brought back online, “the city cannot produce enough water to fight fires, to reliably flush toilets, and to meet other critical needs,” Reeves said in a briefing on Monday evening.
The White House said on Tuesday that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the situation, and administration officials were in contact with state and local officials, including Lumumba.
The federal emergency management agency and environmental protection agency were assisting state officials to identify needs and to deliver equipment needed for emergency repairs, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Twitter.