Jackson Water Crisis: As Water Sources Are Hindered, Residents Forced To Find Alternatives
The past week has been a struggle for Jackson, Miss. residents. Many in the majority Black city don’t have safe drinking water at home or the water pressure is so low that they can’t bathe, cook and flush toilets.
James Brown, 73, told the Associated Press on Wednesday (Aug. 31) that he purchases bags of ice at a gas station because the water barely drips out of his faucets at home. Beauty salon owner, Bobbie Fairley, 59, buys water to shampoo her customers. The water pressure at her salon, Magic Hands Hair, is too low to wash chemicals out of her customers’ hair during treatments. Jackson State University, an HBCU, is securing portable showers for its students.
Following the Pearl River flooding earlier this week, Jackson’s water system partially failed, worsening long standing problems at one of two water-treatment plants.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba said the water pressure was expected to start increasing later in the evening, according to the AP.
President Joe Biden called the mayor on Wednesday after approving an emergency declaration for the state, the AP reported. The two of them discussed the federal government’s efforts to assist the city, which will include support from FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers. Lumumba also had a separate conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The administration wants to provide federal assistance to permanently solve Jackson’s decades-long water problems. Lumumba has stated that long-overdue maintenance and short staffing has plagued the city’s water system. The mayor estimated that it will cost billions to properly repair it.
USA Today reports that Jackson is just one example of a national pattern of disinvestment in Black communities that has resulted in poor infrastructure. The Flint, Mich. water crisis in 2014 is probably the best known example in which corroded pipes transferred lead into that majority Black city’s drinking water.
Jackson’s population is about 83 percent Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For decades, city officials couldn’t afford to make timely repairs to the water system as the tax base eroded from white flight to the suburbs when public school integration started in 1970. Today, about 25 percent of the residents live in poverty.
In July, prior to this current crisis, officials warned Jackson residents to boil their water for safety reasons. Over the years, residents faced concerns about high lead levels in their water, and frigid temperatures have left them without water for weeks.
“It's shameful. There is no question in my mind that if Jackson was 70 percent white, there would be a greater investment in water infrastructure,” Andre M. Perry, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, told USA Today.
Gov. Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency on Monday (Aug. 29) for the city’s water system. State officials were expected to hire contractors to repair the water treatment plant.
Reeves, a Republican, reportedly didn’t invite Lumumba, a Democrat, to his press conference. The governor has received criticism on social media for moving too slow to help residents in the state’s capital.
Meanwhile, Biden has approved Reeve’s request for a federal emergency declaration for the state of Mississippi. In a White House statement the administration said the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are now authorized to coordinate disaster relief efforts.
