Many businesses were again closed in the city of Jackson, while local schools and Jackson State University, a historically black college, resumed online classes. Store shelves, once stocked with bottled water, remained empty as locals waited for cases of water to be handed out later in the day.
“Jackson is having a water crisis and we don’t trust the water we can even bathe in,” said Cassandra Welchlin, 49, a social worker. She said her family of five were lucky because they were able to shower at her sister’s house, out of town.
As an interim measure to restore pressure to the water system, crews rushed to install a temporary pump at the OB Curtis station, which stopped working on Monday and left the city of around 180,000 without water. current.
The plant, which has long suffered from understaffing and maintenance issues, broke down following complications after a weekend of heavy rain and flooding, angering townspeople which is approximately 80% African American.
Mayor Chokwe Lumumba told CNN he expected water to be restored to residents by the end of the week.
Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency for Jackson and the surrounding area and called in the state National Guard to assist in efforts to rescue the city.
Late Tuesday, President Joe Biden’s administration approved a declaration of emergency and ordered federal assistance to supplement the state’s response. The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will coordinate all relief efforts in the state, the White House said.
RACIST POLITICS
In addition to distributing bottled drinking water to several sites, the state trucked in 10 tractor-trailers of non-potable water and expected 108 more trucks in the coming days, Stephen McCraney, director state emergency management. Non-potable supplies are for flushing toilets and washing clothes.
The city should see some relief with the installation of the temporary pump which will increase the capacity of the plant, which had already been brought to 40% by an emergency team.
Despite this, the system still does not have sufficient water pressure to guarantee service throughout the city.
Even before the crisis, the city had already been under a month-long boil water advisory due to “high turbidity levels”, which give the water a cloudy appearance. This followed a series of disruptions to the city’s water supply in recent years, caused by high lead levels, bacterial contamination and storm damage.
Reeves, a Republican, alleged the water treatment plant suffered from years of city mismanagement, while Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba accused the state of not supporting efforts to maintenance and updating of the station.
Each side offered different explanations for why the sewage plant failed, but they seemed to agree on important facts on Tuesday afternoon.
The governor, who had previously blamed the failures of the pumps, conceded that a scenario previously presented by the mayor was correct: floodwaters had entered the station and changed the water chemistry. This rendered the existing treatment inadequate, forcing the factory to close.
Many Jackson residents say the city’s lack of investment in water infrastructure reflects the city’s racial makeup, which is more than 80% black or African American, according to U.S. Census data. .
“We put extreme racist politics before the people. It’s time we put that aside,” said Danyelle Holmes, a Jackson resident and social justice organizer.