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Mississippi’s largest city has run out of water indefinitely, leaving 180,000 locals unable to drink from their taps, flush toilets, or shower.
The ailing OB Curtis water plant in Jackson was taken offline after it was overwhelmed by recent flooding, which destroyed backup systems put in place to relieve the elderly plant’s main treatment machinery.
Now, the capital city that is home to 150,000 people and 30,000 surrounding communities are pressed to conserve their rations as officials begin to distribute cases of water bottles in a ‘massively complicated logistical task.’
‘The city can not produce enough water to fight fires, to reliably flush toilets, and to meet other critical needs,’ Reeves said at a Monday press conference.
‘Replacing our city’s largest infrastructure of running water with human distribution is a massively complicated logistical task. We need to provide it for up to 180,000 people for an unknown period of time.’
The City of Jackson had previously been on a boil-water advisory since July when the water quality began to plummet.
Residents of the city of Jackson were advised to boil their water for one minute before using it to cook, drink, make ice, brush teeth, or wash dishes, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health.
It can take up to four months to repair the water plant.
Jackson, Mississippi ran out of water indefinitely leaving about 180,000 residents without water. Now, officials scramble to pass out cases of water bottles to residents. Pictured: First responders and recruits in Jackson carrying cases of water bottles to vehicles on August 18 amid water issues
Gov. Tate Reeves said the city has struggled with its water infrastructure for years and blamed the failing infrastructure on poor upkeep. Pictured: Mississippi water plant
Residents can expect the water plant to be down for days. It is unclear when the plant will be running again
Governor Reeves (above) announced on Monday there is not enough water to ‘fight fires’ or ‘flush toilets’ among ‘other critical needs
The water plant has been running at the very edge of its capacity, and the motors to power the pumps went out recently along with the backup pumps on Monday, Reeves said.
‘We were told on Friday that there was no way to predict exactly when, but that it was near certain that Jackson would begin to fail to produce water sometime in the next several weeks or months if something didn’t materially improve,’ Reeves said.
Reeves began preparing for the water crisis over the weekend before the plant collapsed quicker than expected.
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba (above) blamed the water outage on the recent floods that plagued the state last week
State officials seek to establish an incident command center at the plant on Tuesday in hopes of resuming the operations, according to Reuters.
‘Until it is fixed, it means we do not have reliable running water at scale,’ he said.
In the meantime, the state will begin emergency repairs to quickly restore the water output. The city will cover half the cost of the improvements.
‘There is no silver bullet fix, but it is a better shot than success,’ Reeves said.
It’s unclear if the whole city is completely without water.
Meanwhile, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said the recent Mississippi floods strained the city’s water plant – despite the governor blaming the emergency on years of poor infrastructure.
‘The Pearl River is falling more faster than expected,’ Lumumba said. ‘It is no secret to any of us, we have a very fragile water-treatment facility.’
Cases of water bottles are being distributed to residents in a ‘massively complicated logistical task’
Central Mississippi battled floods last week after a series of heavy rainfall in Jackson. A swollen Pearl River flooded streets and at least one home in Jackson on Monday.
The National Weather Service said the Pearl River had crested at about 35.4 feet. That is short of the major flood stage level of 36 feet.
Public schools in the city announced Monday night that they would be indefinitely transitioning to virtual learning as the water shortages persists, according to Mississippi today.
Jackson has two water-treatment plants, and the larger one is near a reservoir that provides most of the city’s water supply. The reservoir also has a role in flood control.
The city has longstanding problems with its water system. A cold snap in 2021 left a significant number of people without running water after pipes froze. Similar problems happened again early this year, on a smaller scale.
Two years ago, torrential rain caused the river to reach 36.7 feet and Jackson homes in the hardest-hit neighborhoods were filled with dirty, snake-infested floodwaters.
Days of relentless rain in 2020 resulted in evacuations orders as the Pearl River reached its third-highest crest on record. The area hadn’t seen the river that high since 1983 – 37 years ago.
In Mississippi the Pearl River reached its third-highest crest on record in 2020 at 36.7 feet