Posted on 09/04/2022 9:58:09 PM PDT by texas booster
Whether Republican or Democrat, white or black, Jackson residents deserve better. Mississippi needs a strong capital city,” Latino writes.
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall, ravaging the Mississippi Gulf Coast with record storm surge. On the 17th anniversary of one of the worst natural disasters in state history, Governor Tate Reeves stepped to a podium this week to announce another water-related disaster.
The governor’s message: The City of Jackson’s Public Water System (“PWS”) had failed, and residents would have inconsistent and unsafe water supply for the foreseeable future.
Though this crisis is only now gaining national attention, it has been brewing for years. As president of Empower Mississippi, a state-based policy organization, I’ve seen the slow lead-up to this inevitable collapse. Sensationalist media want to play to the lowest common denominator and pit people against each other, but this problem will require cooperation to solve. Mississippi leaders — state and local, Democrat and Republican, black and white — have an opportunity to work together and get Jackson’s water flowing again.
How the Water Shortage Happened
Mississippi’s capital city has been inundated with rain, swelling local reservoirs and rivers that serve as the raw water source for the Jackson PWS. The rapid influx of raw water strained Jackson’s water pumps, which, as of this week, are no longer producing enough gallons per day to maintain water pressure throughout the city and in surrounding areas.
This means that many of the Jackson roughly 160,000 residents are without water to accomplish first-world tasks that most Americans take for granted — from drinking to cooking or showering to flushing a toilet. It also means that Jackson schools are closed and one of the state’s major economic hubs has ground to a halt.
Scratch deeper into the problem and one quickly realizes that Jackson’s water system was failing long before recent flooding occurred. A string of violations and consent orders from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Mississippi Department of Health (MSDH), and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality tell the tale of an operation relying on antiquated infrastructure, an insufficient number of qualified staff, and no clear plan to monitor and improve the system or to provide adequate safety notices to citizens.
A March 2020 EPA report revealed a history of non-compliance dating back to 2015, when lead levels began exceeding the acceptable range for three consecutive six-month periods. In February 2016, Mississippi health officials issued a compliance plan to Jackson PWS. The plan required Jackson to remediate a series of violations and come into compliance by 2019.
In January 2020, MSDH issued a violation for failure to adhere to the compliance plan. The March 2020 EPA report noted that Jackson had been forced to issue 750 boil-water notices to residents since 2016 and identified a litany of defects in the system, including uncalibrated monitoring systems for pollutants and fabrication of water samples, non-functioning raw-water screens dating back to 2017, UV systems used to disinfect water supply being offline for extended periods, no developed lead service line replacement plan, and too few Class-A water operators dating back to 2016.
A previous attempt to modernize meters and billing through a contract with Siemens backfired and ended in a lawsuit. The suit was ultimately settled for approximately $90 million that could have been used toward deficiencies at Jackson PWS, but $30 million of the proceeds went to a Birmingham, Ala., law firm and most of the remaining funds were used to sure up outstanding bond debt. (Ed. note - $14 million reportedly to the water department)
The Mississippi legislature also allowed a referendum on a special one-cent sales-tax option to support Jackson infrastructure in 2014. The measure overwhelmingly passed and in the last fiscal year reported, the sales-tax option brought in $15 million in revenue over and above Jackson’s normal sales-tax diversion of nearly $29 million.
In addition to available local dollars, the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) reports that between 2016 and 2021, over $200 million in state and federal money could have been used for water infrastructure through a series of loans and grants.
Included in this amount is $42 million received by Jackson in direct local aid from the American Rescue Plan Act. Hinds County, where Jackson is located, received another $45 million (not included in the DFA accounting). Using the state portion of ARPA funds, the legislature authorized a matching program for local infrastructure projects with applications beginning September 1. The pledging of Jackson’s and Hinds County’s ARPA funds for a match could yield $174 million almost immediately to start addressing its most-urgent water needs, though the city may have already pledged some of its funds to other projects.
State-Local Cooperation Is the Solution
The path forward is not without political hurdles. Elected officials who represent parts of the state other than Jackson may be reluctant to shower the capital city with funds in amounts that their own cities will not receive. Even among those that see the merit in the state intervening, there is skepticism about how well the funds would be spent and how decision-makers will be held accountable.
That skepticism is rooted in decades of mismanagement and flouting of past EPA and MSDH attempts to bring the system into compliance. It is further bolstered by consistent city-government dysfunction. A recent dispute between Jackson’s mayor and city council saw the attempted hiring of two different garbage-collection companies to run the same routes, and a series of political maneuvers resulted in a lawsuit pitting city leaders against one another.
Distrust on both sides of the discussion is compounded by Mississippi’s racial history and the political affiliations of the leaders involved. Jackson is a predominantly African-American city led by a predominantly Democratic power structure. Mississippi has a Republican supermajority in the legislature and all eight statewide elected officials are white Republicans. Mississippi’s racial history is complicated, tragic, and easily manipulated by opportunists.
Unfortunately, instead of trying to understand the facts associated with this crisis, including how we got here and the state’s history of trying to provide both expertise and financial support, some in the national media apparatus have seized upon this dynamic. Sensationalistic headlines at CNN, MSNBC, and USA Today all overtly assume that the current crisis is driven by racial animus. This approach might fire up echo chambers, but it does not solve problems, and ultimately is not in the interest of the people most hurt by this crisis.
To the credit of state leadership and city officials, they seem to understand this and be undeterred from finding a workable solution. Citizens should be equally focused on solutions instead of finger-pointing and deflection. One idea percolating is to create a regional utility district that is larger than Jackson. There is precedent for this in Mississippi, with the six coastal counties forming regional districts following Hurricane Katrina. While details matter and buy-in would be necessary, the proposed solution recognizes that the impact of safe water in Jackson extends beyond Jackson.
Whether Republican or Democrat, white or black, Jackson residents deserve better. Mississippi needs a strong capital city. Thoughtful use of ARPA funds and a state-city partnership can go a long way to fixing the problem. It can also serve as an opportunity to build trust and bridges.
Otherwise, lots to glean from his article.
Notice how much money has been granted to Jackson MS by residents of the state - with no noticeable effect.
I posted the entire article to provide a voice from someone who is in Jackson, and not an elected politician.
Thanks. Jackson gets a good deal of money from the state as it is the capitol, just as Washington DC. White flight may have damaged the real property tax base but the city is recieving lots of fed grant money as well s state money.
Another article concerning the Jackson MS water crisis.
Please note that Jackson, like most big cities, uses surface water for their drinking sources, not wells, as do many other Mississippi towns.
Trying to provide enough documentation so that FReepers can intelligently discuss the issues with others.
You will certainly know more than any national news reader, and more than even some Jackson residents.
With links provided I trust that we can slow the propaganda coming from the MSM.
This article provides some historical documentation on the politics, the funding and a slight discussion of the dysfunction within the city.
Let’s face it, without the city government and management team working so hard to grandstand while ignoring any solutions, the water situation would not exist as it currently does.
New Orleans uses Mississippi River water, captured above the city but still polluted with wastes from Minnesota to Mississippi. That is why the city has a strongly chemical taste caused by massive doses of chlorine and other purifying chemicals and why it has a cloudy cast to it.
The state should dissolve the local water department and take over the duties for the duration.
Handing more money over to the same incompetents and crooks that got them in this state of distinction is ridiculous.
The city also sued 4 sub-contractors. These sub-contractors were political hacks and cronies, who had no experience in this business - and also black. They appear to have been put in the middle of the fulfillment process back in 2013-2014, for the most corrupt and political reasons. One of them in particular was the middle-man between Siemens and the meter-production company - and the meters did not work with Siemens software.
Who these subcontractors were and how they operated and skimmed from the contracts needs to be more fully investigated.
Oh all of a sudden, it’s not about political parties, it’s about poor people who are suffering.
“How the Jackson water shortage happened...”
Might this have something to do with it?
Black population - 80%
White population - 16%
“...and how it can be solved”
A white “colonizer” taking over the system?
Good luck with that!
In the end, the only solution is to remove the responsibility from the city, and run it as a state operation. The city won’t agree to that, and so this will linger for years and years.
If you live in the city....I will offer you my pity, but I’d tell you the best thing to do is...to move at least thirty miles beyond the city limits. For a town of 160,000...it’s unacceptable as to what happened.
That’s why the system got so run-down, because black lives do not matter, unless a policeman is directly connected with the death. Dying of thirst doesn’t matter. Let them buy bottled water and eat cake.
The problem with this is that houses in Jackson are probably unsellable right now.
I suspect an economically more viable solution might be to install your own reverse osmosis system to purify the city supplied water. Unfortunately that does nothing to solve what looks to be a general slide to becoming a third wold city.
I was looking at Zillow (Jackson city limits) this AM. 436 houses up for sale. I’d say the bulk in the southern ‘quarter’ of town run in the $20k to $50k range. For the $150k to $200k range....probably fewer than 25 homes.
You probably are right...houses won’t be selling for the foreseeable future and some folks might be looking for court-action to sue the city for failures. They’d have a decent case, but bankrupting the city won’t resolve this.
I live in MS. This has been going on for the last 20 years or so and the federal government has given something on the order of $400 million to Jackson to fix their water system. We put men on the moon for less money than has been funneled to Jackson yet probably 99.9% of the money has been outright stolen or otherwise funneled to cronies of the mayor and the city council. Pouring another $100 million into an already proven corrupt cesspool won’t help. If you want to fix the problem then investigate and prosecute the wanton corruption that has resulted in all the money being stolen and none being used to fix the problems with the Jackson water system. I’ll state it plainly: The entire city government of Jackson is nothing but a bunch of crooks who have enriched themselves and their friends off of the money that has been given to them to fix the water system. Either lock these crooks up or quit bitching about it. Nobody will do a damned thing about it because the crooks are black and everyone is scared of being called a racist.
a conservatorship seems appropriate
How do you build "trust and bridges" with corrupt politicians? You must first eliminate the corruption. This isn't done with money; it's done with jail.
“For a town of 160,000...it’s unacceptable as to what happened.”
And one of only 50 American state capitals. Disgraceful.
Excellent, informative post. Thanks for raising the level of discussion with one article.
I flat-out disagree with both of these statements.
If Jackson residents “deserve” better, they can start by holding their own ELECTED leaders accountable.
And I’ve traveled across the U.S. for years. Most of the state capitals I’ve visited are dumps.
That’s when I stopped reading - first line when all-of-a-sudden it’s not about politics when the politicians pull an epic fail.
Water systems should be run by regulated private utilities.
That sets up an adversarial relationship between political regulators and the water company management and owners, such that the politicians actually are guarding the public interest, not using the water company as a source of graft and patronage, etc.
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