Jackson, Mississippi facing another water crisis

The citizens of Jackson, Mississippi are facing a water crisis for the third time in two calendar years. As the Christmas weekend winter storm swept through the city, pipes burst and left thousands of residents with little-to-no water pressure. Chokwe Antar Lumumba, mayor of Jackson, declared the situation a local state of emergency.
“In a Dec. 26 statement, Lumumba said that they spent a good portion of the day working to identify leaks in order to restore pressure.” However, the pressure remains low.
Reports of pressure issues are coming from South Jackson, West Jackson, and the city of Byram.
“We urge residents to continue reporting water leaks,” Lumumba’s release read. ”
“311 is taking calls during normal business hours.” If you are having trouble getting through, please dial 601-960-1111. Call 601-960-1875 if it is after hours. City crews, contract workers, and other support teams are working on the ground as hard as they can to isolate leaks and restore pressure.
We will continue to distribute water at various locations around the city until the water pressure has been restored.
Social media has given Jackson residents a platform to share their firsthand experiences.
“Jackson activist Maisie Brown tweeted on Dec. 26 that many areas of the city have not had running water since Dec. 23.” “The water crisis is not over and instead of families being able to enjoy their holiday weekend, they had to gather up water cases to cover basic hygiene.”
“I think it’s important for people to understand that these are real people with real lives,” Washington said.
“The faucets are dry in Jackson, Mississippi,” Washington tweeted. “I keep hearing national news reports saying we are under a boil water alert, but we don’t have water to boil!”
$600 million focused on addressing Jackson’s water crisis was included in a government funding bill passed by Congress on Dec. 23. As the only Mississippi politicians to vote yes on the bill, Rep. Bennie Thompson, of Mississippi, and Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican, pushed for the funding to be included in the bill. The other four Republicans all voted no to the funding bill.
According to the U.S. Census, 82.8 percent of Jackson is Black. The city experienced having weeks without water in parts of the city in winter 2021 and summer 2022.
Throughout this latest winter storm, water issues have been dealt with in parts of Memphis, Tennessee and pipes have burst in parts of Atlanta.