In the summer of 2022, heavy rains damaged water treatment facilities in the city of Jackson, Mississippi, creating a high-profile public health crisis.Republican Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency, as thousands of residents were told to boil their water before drinking it. Some people have been forced to rely on bottled water for weeks because the water pressure in their faucets was too low to flush their toilets.
Many of the city's 150,000 residents were wary that the local government would be able to put clean water through their pipes again. State officials have a history of blocking efforts to repair Jackson's beleaguered infrastructure, and the City Council didn't have the money to do it on its own. So when the federal government stepped in that fall, allocating funds and appointing an engineer to manage the city's water system, there was finally reason to believe that change might be on the horizon.
But as the months passed, hope turned to disappointment. Ted Henifin, a federally appointed engineer, began taking steps to run the city's water system through a private company, despite Mayor Chokwe Lumumba's opposition. Local activist Makani Themba said repeated requests from supporters for data and other information about Jackson's drinking water went unanswered, and Henifin testified before a federal judge that the water was safe to drink. Despite assurances that there is, brown liquid is still flowing out of some faucets. Faced with this situation, a group of advocates sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency last July asking it to participate in a review of the city's water system.
„Jackson residents have weathered many storms, both literal and figurative, over the past few years,“ they wrote. in the letter. “We have the right and responsibility to commit to the redevelopment of our water and wastewater systems,” the letter continued. emergency petition The EPA includes similar demands for transparency and engagement.
Earlier this month, a federal judge granted They supported their demands and two local groups, the Mississippi Poor People's Campaign and the People's Advocate Group, became parties to an EPA lawsuit against the city of Jackson for violating the Safe Drinking Water Act. Supporters hope that having a seat at the legal table will give city residents a say in rebuilding the city's infrastructure and prevent privatization. The Jackson case reflects a broader problem affecting utilities across the country, with cash-strapped local governments turning to companies to make much-needed repairs to water treatment plants, water pipes and water storage systems. However, this approach often limits transparency and confuses local residents. Get out of decision making.
„This is not a Jackson-specific problem,“ said Brooke Floyd, co-director of the Jackson People's Assembly at the People's Advocacy Institute. “All these cities that need infrastructure repair need a way to get clean water to their communities.”
The roots of Jackson's water crisis lie in decades of disinvestment and neglect. Like many other mid-sized cities across the country, such as Pittsburgh and St. Louis, Jackson declined as white middle-class residents moved to the suburbs and tax dollars were taken away from infrastructure that was in desperate need of repair. Between 1980 and 2020, Jackson's population decreased by approximately 25%. The city's black population is now over 80 percent, up from 50 percent in the 1980s. A quarter of Jackson residents live below the poverty line, with most households making less than $40,000 a year, compared to the state's annual income of $49,000.
Decades of conflict between the Republican state government and Democratic and Black-led local governments created additional obstacles to upgrading Jackson's water and wastewater infrastructure.a Title VI Civil Rights Claims In a September 2022 filing with the EPA, the NAACP accused Governor Reeves and the state Legislature of „systematically depriving the City of Jackson of the funds necessary to safely and reliably operate and maintain its water facilities.“ . The NAACP argued that the biggest problem was the state's rejection of the city's proposal to impose a 1% sales tax to pay for infrastructure upgrades and divert money from the EPA's Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund away from the capital. .
„Even though Jackson is Mississippi's most populous city, state officials have been awarded federal funds from the EPA program three times in the past 25 years,“ the complaint says. “Meanwhile, the state is pouring money into majority-white areas of Mississippi even though the needs are not as acute.”
In the absence of adequate resources from state and local governments, Jackson residents have learned to protect themselves, Floyd told Grist. At the height of the water crisis in 2022, federal funds helped fund the distribution of bottled water to thousands of residents, but when the funds dried up, people were forced to buy liquids with different smells and different colors. Organized to ensure drinking water for households, considering that water is flowing out of homes. their faucet. When Henifin started posting boil notifications on a smartphone app, some residents found it difficult to use, but one resident launched a separate community text service. Floyd said that for some residents, these issues continue today.
„There's a sense that we have to feed each other because no one else is coming,“ Floyd said. „We know the state won't help us.“
Henifin told a federal judge that he has taken a number of steps to improve Jackson's water quality. JXN Water, the private company he founded, hired contractors to update corrosion controls at major water facilities and test for lead and bacteria such as E. coli. But residents and advocates say that while the water coming out of the system may be clean, the city has more than 250 miles of aging pipes that could leach toxic chemicals into the water supply. Pointed out. Advocates want the city to replace them and conduct testing in neighborhoods instead of just near treatment facilities, a change the city would make with federal funding. In December 2022, the federal government Allocate $600 million I asked Jackson to repair my water system.
But the worry is that this money will be used for other things. Henifin manages federal funds. By court order, he has the power to enter into contracts, make payments, and change the rates and fees charged to consumers.
Themba, a local activist, said Henifin has not responded to residents' demands for additional testing or access to existing surveillance data. Because JXN Water is a private company, it is not subject to public disclosure laws that require it to share this information with the public. (Henifin did not respond to Grist's request for comment.)
Themba cited Pittsburgh as an example of a place where residents fought privatization of water systems and secured more democratic public services. In 2012, facing a lack of state and federal funding, the city transferred its water system to Veolia, an international waste and water management giant based in France. Over the next few years, publicly traded companies chose cost-cutting measures such as: Lead entered the water supply of tens of thousands of inhabitants. A local campaign ensued, and advocates eventually won a promise from the city government to return the water system to city control and give the public a say in the management of the water system.
“What we have learned from across the country is that privatization does not work for communities,” Themba said. „We want something that works.“
The court order appointing Henfin as Jackson's water manager in 2022 does not outline what will happen after Henfin's four-year contract expires in 2026.Last month, the Mississippi Senate passed the bill This would put Jackson's water in state hands after Henfin leaves office, a move Henfin recently said he supports and Jackson's mayor strongly opposes.The bill was quickly rejected in the House of Representatives. without voting. Now that they have joined the lawsuit, advocates hope they will have a chance to influence the outcome before it is too late.
„The residents of Jackson have felt marginalized for a long time,“ Floyd said. „If we lose this, we'll be in big trouble.“