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Newton county water sewer authority3/22/2023 Broken pipes decrease water pressure and flow, which allows contaminants to enter through the cracks. The dysfunctional system leaves Jackson’s water supply vulnerable to E. In fact, staffing shortages at the city’s water plants meant that employees were working hundreds of hours of overtime before the recent crisis. A 2020 EPA investigation, for instance, found that pH meters, turbidimeters, and other equipment hadn’t been repaired or calibrated in about three years-since the last time its instrument technician position was filled. Curtis treatment facility, much of the equipment that monitors and treats the water has long been in disrepair. No amount of lead is safe for children, according to the CDC. But two-thirds of water samples still contain lead. Since that year, contamination levels have gone down. Among them is a 2015 EPA finding of lead in the city’s water samples-in some places almost double the allowable levels. Numerous consent decrees, violation notices, and orders from the agency dot the city’s public record. 9Īccording to the Environmental Protection Agency, the city has issued approximately 300 boil-water notices over the past two years and suffered more than 7,300 water line breaks in the past four. Faucets ran dry, boil-water notices were issued, and schools closed yet again. And at the end of 2022, a winter freeze beginning on Christmas Eve plunged the city into another water emergency. Storms in 2010, 2014, and 2018 led to water outages. The system has been in crisis mode for years. But it could be another scenario next time.” 8 This particular event really shows how vulnerable the system is. Charles Williams, the director of the Public Works Department at the time, presciently told Jackson’s Clarion-Ledger in 2021: “We are by no means out of the woods yet. Jackson’s outdated water distribution system is particularly fragile because it includes pipes that are smaller than the industry standard and some that are made of concrete or cast iron, which easily crack. Curtis plant froze, and more than 100 water mains broke. Rewind just a year and a half: A cold snap in 2021 incapacitated the city’s water system, leaving tens of thousands of residents without running water for several weeks. 5įor Jacksonians, this breakdown brought a feeling of déjà vu. Jackson suffers more because it has been left to the mercy of conservative leadership in the state of Mississippi. The disproportionate effects of climate change and national disinvestment highlight an important point: While the water infrastructure may be deteriorating in cities across the country, not all cities fare the same. Abre’ Conner, the NAACP’s director of environmental and climate justice, testified during a congressional hearing on water infrastructure in September: “The effect of climate change on Black people has finally come into national focus, because Black people experience the most horrific impacts from historic disinvestment in communities.” 4 Whether in New Orleans in 2005, Flint, Mich., in 2014, or Jackson today, Black Americans are disproportionately affected by these system failures. Now the intensifying impacts of a changing climate are delivering a final blow. The water infrastructure in Jackson-a city that is 83 percent Black-has been underfunded and crumbling for decades.
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