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. Department of Justice is seeking an enforceable agreement with the City of Jackson to address multiple violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, many resulting from long-standing deficiencies at O.B. Curtis, Jackson’s primary water treatment plant.
Congressman Bennie Thompson is seeking up to $200 million in direct federal funding for the City of Jackson to address its beleaguered water system, potentially bypassing the State of Mississippi entirely.
At College Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss., on Sept. 13, 2022, Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba opened the possibility of a new water treatment plant for the capital city after explaining ongoing challenges running and staffing the O.B. Curtis water treatment center to the people gathered there for a town hall meeting.
For the first time in recent memory, virtually all stakeholders in the future of Mississippi’s capital city came together Wednesday to discuss the Jackson water crisis that has left more than 160,000 residents without clean water for over a month.
The State of Mississippi is now in talks with a private company about managing its capital city’s struggling water system, Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba said during a press conference Tuesday. The City of Jackson was also in discussions with the company before the State took over, he added.
Rhea Williams-Bishop, director of Mississippi and New Orleans programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation writes that “together, we can be the ones who create the environments and communities that build up our children, rather than tear them down.” She encourages Mississippians to come together to solve the Jackson water crisis—and then to repair the systems that led to it.
A viral video showing a tanker truck parked across from the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion in Jackson has sparked speculation online that Gov. Tate Reeves’ home is enjoying special access to clean water while most residents of the capital city go without safe running water. But the speculation is wrong.
Mississippi House Rep. Ronnie Crudup Jr. told the Mississippi Free Press on Wednesday that Monday’s water failures reminded him of the 2021 crisis. Gov. Tate Reeves’ press conference on Monday, he said, “gave me a little hope.”
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