FOCUS: 2022 Elections • Housing & Evictions • #MSWelfare Scandal • Jackson Water • Abortion • Race & Racism • Policing • Incarceration
Dr. Robert A. Leishear explains how water hammers cause nearly all water main breaks in industrialized cities, but says they can be stopped.
Jackson’s troubled water system has suffered multiple system-wide failures since 2021, including in late December 2022 that continued into this month amid a winter freeze.
Jackson Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks organized a town hall for the federally appointed Jackson water system administrator Ted Henifin to speak with some of the people the repeated water crisis hit hardest.
“Some areas could go into the teens, maybe even the single digits. And not only that—we’re expecting very dangerous wind chills as well, enough to bring us down to negative temperatures. It’s very scary,” said MEMA Chief Communications Officer Malary White said on Dec. 21, 2022.
The U.S. Department of Justice is establishing an “interim third party manager” for the City of Jackson’s beleaguered water system. That manager is charged with stabilizing Jackson’s water production and distribution facilities and bringing the capital city back into compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The City of Jackson has approved an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to address the city’s ongoing water crisis, providing a legal framework to address its violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act and stabilize its water system after two consecutive years of ongoing disruptions.
“What we are witnessing today is the result of decades-long efforts to delegitimize Jackson leadership,” West Ohueri writes.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves requested a federal declaration on Sept. 12, 2022, that would allow Jackson businesses dealing with the capital city’s water crisis to receive up to $2 million in disaster loans.
The U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency has opened an investigation into the State of Mississippi for possible civil rights violations over the lack of reliable access to safe drinking water in the majority-Black capital City of Jackson.
Mississippi Journalism and Education Group is a a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media organization (EIN 85-1403937) for the state, devoted to going beyond partisanship and publishing solutions journalism for the Magnolia State and all of its people.
125 S. Congress Street #1324
Jackson, MS 39201
[email protected]
[email protected]
601-362-6121
The Mississippi Free Press is a project of the Mississippi Journalism and Education Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit journalism organization (EIN 85-1403937).