Jackson water system still vulnerable 1 year after crisis

Jackson resident Yvon Lindsay not only deals with water issues inside her home, drinking bottled water instead of city water, she explains the cul-de-sac she lives on has a visible stream of water flowing through the crumpling blacktop and exposed clay on Feb. 9, 2022. Lindsay said it has been going on since 2017 with the city filling and covering holes but not tracking or fixing the leak. Barbara Gauntt/Clarion Ledger

Lee O. Sanderlin and Keisha Rowe
Mississippi Clarion Ledger

A year after winter storms ripped through Jackson and caused a monthlong water outage for residents, officials say there’s a chance the city’s water system could fail again.

“Although we’ve done some work at the plant, I can’t honestly say we wouldn’t be impacted like we were last year,” Chief City Engineer Charles Williams said. “It could spell some very significant challenges for the city.”

The freezing temperatures that began around Valentine’s Day 2021 halted operations at the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant by Feb. 17 because the plant wasn’t built to withstand the wintry conditions. Residents spent 28 days with no water or low water pressure. Since then, plans were made to protect the plant from future storms.

Those plans are not yet complete. “The residents and businesses should be concerned,” he said. “You just don’t get over that type of issue overnight or a couple months. There’s going to be fear because the water system itself is very fragile.”

$80 million needed for immediate fixes

A water leak from broken pipes under the street sends a steady stream of clay-colored water down Valencia Court in south Jackson.

Yvon Lindsey, who has lived there for 30 years, said the leak has been there at least five of those years.

A retired seamstress, Lindsey said she doesn’t trust her tap water, yet a tenth of her income goes toward water, either to pay her city water bill or to purchase bottled water she uses for everyday life.

She and other Jackson residents say they are worn out and frustrated over repairs that never hold for long — if the breaks ever get repaired at all.

Lindsey said she lost power and water last year during the winter storm and had to stay with her daughter in Flowood. She lost water service again when freezing temperatures came back in January. She said she doesn’t understand why city officials seem to have done so little over the past year.

“You had the whole summer to do what you needed to do before it got cold in the winter,” Lindsey said. “What were you doing?”

A big part of what made last year’s freeze so devastating was the lack of weatherization at the city’s water treatment plants, Williams said. Plans to enclose part of O.B. Curtis were supposed to be completed by January but have stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues.

Other plans could be started thanks to millions in federal aid pouring into the city, but the funding received so far will only make a small dent in the $2 billion Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said the city needs.

Legislature considering new repair fund for Jackson

The Mississippi House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Feb. 2 to create a state-managed water and sewer repair fund for Jackson. If the fund is approved by the Senate, the state would look at putting $40 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds into it, and the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration would oversee disbursements to the city.

Shonda Yates, I-Jackson Official portrait

State Rep. Shanda Yates, I-Jackson, said city officials told her $80 million is enough to install backup power generators at both plants, repair broken water pumps and filters and replace water mains. The money would also fund some sewer improvements.

“The goal is this $40 million coupled with what the city got in ARPA funds would be enough to handle repairs that are needed for both water plants,” Yates said.

Yates said other lawmakers and city officials have been carefully examining how to best handle the problem, but it’s been complicated because of the extensiveness of the needed repairs.

“Since we had the freeze last February, I started digging in and trying to educate myself as best as I could on what needed to be done and how it can be addressed in phases, because it is an overwhelming idea to even think about,” Yates said.

Williams, the city’s engineer, said new 4-inch water pipes planned for south Jackson would help increase the water pressure, resulting in fewer outages. 

Many water pipes in that part of the city are 2 inches in diameter, too small to provide the needed pressure.

If the Legislature approves the funds, Jackson would have five years to spend it. The funding is conditionally tied to the city submitting reports and plans for the Department of Finance and administration to approve.

If that money materializes, Williams said it would be a good start, but not enough.

“Let’s be realistic, whether it’s $40 million or $50 million, our needs are way beyond that funding,” he said. “Whatever investment or allocation that the city receives, it’s going to allow us to continue to do work while we seek other funding.”

Officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently told Jackson officials they have until March 13 to submit a plan to address its Safe Water Drinking Act violations, which have been constant since 2015.

Yvon Lindsay says water pressure in her south Jackson home has worsened over the past 30 years. “It was faster than that and it was fuller than that.” Barbara Gauntt/Clarion Ledger

‘They don’t tell us anything’

Lindsey’s cul-de-sac ironically sits in the shadow of a massive water tower, looming over a south Jackson neighborhood that regularly sees weather-related water outages. The tower is mostly empty.

Standing in the road in front of her home, Lindsey said she and her neighbors have asked the city several times about the tower and the leaking pipes under the asphalt.

“They don’t tell us anything,” she said. The water pressure in her and her neighbors’ homes isn’t what it used to be, and she thinks a full water tower would help.

“Compared to 30 years ago … it’s not good,” she said, watching brown water flow out of her kitchen tap for a split second before running clear. “It was faster than that and it was fuller than that.”

The years-long water leak has made life miserable for her neighbors, and the water-logged earth may be shifting the foundations of their homes.

Alberta Brown, who lives across from Lindsey, said water bubbles up from her yard constantly and green algae grows down her driveway from the ever-present moisture, which caused her to fall and hurt herself.

Brown said because she’s older and has health problems, she’s scared to venture outside even for short trips because the water makes things dangerous for her.

“I feel like I’m trapped in my own house,” Brown said.

This story was produced by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting and funded in part by the Fund for Investigative Journalism. It was also produced in partnership with the Community Foundation for Mississippi’s local news collaborative, which is independently funded in part by Microsoft Corp. The collaborative includes MCIR, the Clarion Ledger, the Jackson Advocate, Jackson State University, Mississippi Public Broadcasting and Mississippi Today.

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