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John Horhn
News

Legislative Assistance For Jackson Water Crisis Rests On Single State Bill and Federal Aid

The Mississippi Legislature’s effort to assist in the Jackson water crisis has been pared down to a single bill on water-payment flexibility and $2 million from the capital expense fund, a far cry from the ambitious plans that emerged at the peak of the outages. But legislators involved in the ongoing deliberations over the crisis say the federal government is expected to provide significant support for the City of Jackson and Hinds County, between the disaster declaration and the American Rescue Plan. 

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Overhead view of OB Curtis Water Plant
In-Depth

Under The Surface, Part 2: After Jackson Freeze, the Fog of War

It was Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, when it all went wrong at the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant. Dr. Charles Williams, public works director for the City of Jackson, could see the writing on the wall. “We started losing system pressure. Everything bottomed out. We had to figure out why,” he says now. A war, of sorts, lay ahead.

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Tamiko Smith sitting with dialysis bag
In-Depth

Under the Surface, Part 1: Jackson Residents Struggle from Neglected Water System

What does it mean to be without water? It is innumerable small humiliations: the splash of a toilet flushed with a bucket, days on end without a shower, no clean clothes. It is weeks without a cooked meal, a sink full of unclean dishes, brushing one’s teeth with water from a bottle, if a bottle can be found. For Tamiko and Otis Smith and many others, it is something far more dangerous. 

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