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If Jackson’s water system collapsed, residents might have had to wait two years to get clean drinking water

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If the city of Jackson’s main water treatment plant had failed Monday — as it nearly did — residents would have had to wait 18 to 24 months to restore service, state Sen. John Horhn said public works officials told him.

News of what has happened in Mississippi’s capital city horrified Rengao Song, a water quality and treatment expert who works as an adviser to the Louisville, Kentucky, city water system. “This is just ridiculous — in the United States of America in 2022, we have people without water,” he said.

On Tuesday, the state Health Department, along with the city and state, declared states of emergency. So did President Biden, whose administration has promised $75 million in federal funding.

Horhn, a Jackson Democrat, said the hope is to restore water pressure within a week and to lift the boil-water notice within a few weeks, but state officials stopped short of any predictions at a news conference Wednesday.

“We were lucky to function yesterday without any interruption,” Gov. Tate Reeves told reporters, “but there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done.”

He advised residents to not drink the water and, if possible, to go elsewhere to use water: “If you don’t have to use the water in Jackson, don’t use it.”

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said Wednesday that he’s warned state leaders for years about the problems the water treatment system has been suffering. He compared it to a car that goes decades without proper maintenance.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, seen here at a Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022, news conference, said he spoke Wednesday with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and that they assured him the full force of the federal government will be working to help the city resolve its water system issues. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today

“We have been crying out,” he said. “We need an overhaul of our water treatment facility. In all actuality, a new water treatment facility would be in order.”

Stephen McCraney, executive director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said they have hired water operators from across the Southeast and are installing a water pump that has been rented.

One pump in the water plant is so old that parts are having to be machined in order to replace them, he said. “We have asked the EPA to expedite it.”

After pumps have been replaced at Jackson’s main water treatment plant (O.B. Curtis), “then a decision can be reached on what to do long term,” Horhn said.

Reeves said he is focused on “working with local leaders to fix the problems. We are committed to that task.”

On Tuesday, he met with the state senators who live in Jackson.

“Right now, he’s focused on the immediate emergency — the water pressure,” said state Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson.

After that issue is resolved, the next need is dealing with water quality, he said. “When we get past that, we need a major fix to the system.”

Pat Fontaine, executive director of the Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association, said he expects the crisis to cost Mississippi restaurants and businesses millions of dollars.

Restaurants were already hurting after five weeks of boil-water notices that caused the restaurants to spend up to $700 a day for bottled water, ice and other items, he said. “A lot of that money they can’t recoup.”

Now a number of them are temporarily closing their doors, he said.

He has been sending letters to city and state officials about the crisis, he said. “MEMA taking over is a blessing, and it needs to be addressed by higher levels that have more resources. We need the immediate solution, and we need to explore a permanent solution. Hopefully, with momentum, they’ll seek the permanent solution.”

The solution, he said, will “take federal money to make it happen and state funds, too.”

In April, an electrical fire caused two service pumps to fail at the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant, resulting in a temporary loss of water pressure. In November, the city issued a boil-water notice after unsafe chemicals were used to treat the drinking water.

The plant has also seen the failure of multiple raw water pumps, according to the Health Department.

The Clarion Ledger reported that two-thirds of all water samples taken in Jackson since 2015 have contained at least a trace amount of lead.

The lower water pressure means E. coli or similar organisms can develop in the drinking water, making it unsafe, officials said.

In its declaration of emergency, Health Department officials detailed the lack of certified operators and maintenance staff at Jackson’s water treatment plants.

As for its two water plants, Jackson is supposed to have 24 Class A workers running them. That number has fallen to five or six, violating the city’s consent decree with the EPA.

City officials say that Class A operators make about $14 an hour, despite having college degrees.

Those without a degree can become Class A operators with a GED and six years’ experience and also pass the exam, according to Mississippi Department of Health standards. In both cases, applicants must have at least one year of working experience in a Class A plant.

The Jackson City Council recently boosted these salaries, as much as $10,000 a year for some, hoping to retain these operators, whose average salary across the U.S. tops $48,000 a year. The range for these salaries in Jackson is between $29,120 and $39,120.

Song said pay is needed beyond $14 an hour to attract qualified operators.

“You need dedicated people who really care and have the ability to do the job,” he said. “What you have now is a really sad situation. Everybody knew this was going to happen.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was formed

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April 26, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-26 07:00:00

by Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Today
April 26, 2025

April 26, 1964

Aaron Henry testifies before the Credentials Committee at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Civil rights activists started the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the state’s all-white regular delegation to the Democratic National Convention. 

The regulars had already adopted this resolution: “We oppose, condemn and deplore the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … We believe in separation of the races in all phases of our society. It is our belief that the separation of the races is necessary for the peace and tranquility of all the people of Mississippi, and the continuing good relationship which has existed over the years.” 

In reality, Black Mississippians had been victims of intimidation, harassment and violence for daring to try and vote as well as laws passed to disenfranchise them. As a result, by 1964, only 6% of Black Mississippians were permitted to vote. A year earlier, activists had run a mock election in which thousands of Black Mississippians showed they would vote if given an opportunity. 

In August 1964, the Freedom Party decided to challenge the all-white delegation, saying they had been illegally elected in a segregated process and had no intention of supporting President Lyndon B. Johnson in the November election. 

The prediction proved true, with white Mississippi Democrats overwhelmingly supporting Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, who opposed the Civil Rights Act. While the activists fell short of replacing the regulars, their courageous stand led to changes in both parties.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Mississippi River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday

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April 25, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @alxrzr – 2025-04-25 16:04:00

by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today
April 25, 2025

Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said Friday floodwaters from the Mississippi River, which have reached homes in and around Vicksburg, will likely persist until early May. Elfer estimated there areabout 15 to 20 roads underwater in the area.

A truck sits in high water after the owner parked, then boated to his residence on Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg as a rising Mississippi River causes backwater flooding, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“We’re about half a foot (on the river gauge) from a major flood,” he said. “But we don’t think it’s going to be like in 2011, so we can kind of manage this.”

The National Weather projects the river to crest at 49.5 feet on Monday, making it the highest peak at the Vicksburg gauge since 2020. Elfer said some residents in north Vicksburg — including at the Ford Subdivision as well as near Chickasaw Road and Hutson Street — are having to take boats to get home, adding that those who live on the unprotected side of the levee are generally prepared for flooding.

A rising Mississippi River causing backwater flooding near Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.
Old tires aligned a backyard as a deterrent to rising water north of Vicksburg along U.S. 61, Friday, April 25, 2025.
As the Mississippi River rises, backwater flooding creeps towards a home located on Falk Steel Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“There are a few (inundated homes), but we’ve mitigated a lot of them,” he said. “Some of the structures have been torn down or raised. There are a few people that still live on the wet side of the levee, but they kind of know what to expect. So we’re not too concerned with that.”

The river first reached flood stage in the city — 43 feet — on April 14. State officials closed Highway 465, which connects the Eagle Lake community just north of Vicksburg to Highway 61, last Friday.

Flood waters along Kings Point Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

Elfer said the areas impacted are mostly residential and he didn’t believe any businesses have been affected, emphasizing that downtown Vicksburg is still safe for visitors. He said Warren County has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to secure pumps and barriers.

“Everybody thus far has been very cooperative,” he said. “We continue to tell people stay out of the flood areas, don’t drive around barricades and don’t drive around road close signs. Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous.”

NWS projects the river to stay at flood stage in Vicksburg until May 6. The river reached its record crest of 57.1 feet in 2011.

The boat launch area is closed and shored up on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The boat launch area (right) is closed and under water on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
City of Vicksburg workers shore up the bank along Levee Street as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The old pedestrian bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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With domestic violence law, victims ‘will be a number with a purpose,’ mother says

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April 25, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-25 15:07:00

by Mina Corpuz, Mississippi Today
April 25, 2025

Joslin Napier. Carlos Collins. Bailey Mae Reed. 

They are among Mississippi domestic violence homicide victims whose family members carried their photos as the governor signed a bill that will establish a board to study such deaths and how to prevent them. 

Tara Gandy, who lost her daughter Napier in Waynesboro in 2022, said it’s a moment she plans to tell her 5-year-old grandson about when he is old enough. Napier’s presence, in spirit, at the bill signing can be another way for her grandson to feel proud of his mother. 

“(The board) will allow for my daughter and those who have already lost their lives to domestic violence … to no longer be just a number,” Gandy said. “They will be a number with a purpose.” 

Family members at the April 15 private bill signing included Ashla Hudson, whose son Collins, died last year in Jackson. Grandparents Mary and Charles Reed and brother Colby Kernell attended the event in honor of Bailey Mae Reed, who died in Oxford in 2023. 

Joining them were staff and board members from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the statewide group that supports shelters and advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 2886 to form a Domestic Violence Facility Review Board. 

The law will go into effect July 1, and the coalition hopes to partner with elected officials who will make recommendations for members to serve on the board. The coalition wants to see appointees who have frontline experience with domestic violence survivors, said Luis Montgomery, public policy specialist for the coalition. 

A spokesperson from Gov. Tate Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Establishment of the board would make Mississippi the 45th state to review domestic violence fatalities. 

Montgomery has worked on passing a review board bill since December 2023. After an unsuccessful effort in 2024, the coalition worked to build support and educate people about the need for such a board. 

In the recent legislative session, there were House and Senate versions of the bill that unanimously passed their respective chambers. Authors of the bills are from both political parties. 

The review board is tasked with reviewing a variety of documents to learn about the lead up and circumstances in which people died in domestic violence-related fatalities, near fatalities and suicides – records that can include police records, court documents, medical records and more. 

From each review, trends will emerge and that information can be used for the board to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to prevent domestic violence deaths. 

“This is coming at a really great time because we can really get proactive,” Montgomery said. 

Without a board and data collection, advocates say it is difficult to know how many people have died or been injured in domestic-violence related incidents.

A Mississippi Today analysis found at least 300 people, including victims, abusers and collateral victims, died from domestic violence between 2020 and 2024. That analysis came from reviewing local news stories, the Gun Violence Archive, the National Gun Violence Memorial, law enforcement reports and court documents. 

Some recent cases the board could review are the deaths of Collins, Napier and Reed. 

In court records, prosecutors wrote that Napier, 24, faced increased violence after ending a relationship with Chance Fabian Jones. She took action, including purchasing a firearm and filing for a protective order against Jones.

Jones’s trial is set for May 12 in Wayne County. His indictment for capital murder came on the first anniversary of her death, according to court records. 

Collins, 25, worked as a nurse and was from Yazoo City. His ex-boyfriend Marcus Johnson has been indicted for capital murder and shooting into Collins’ apartment. Family members say Collins had filed several restraining orders against Johnson. 

Johnson was denied bond and remains in jail. His trial is scheduled for July 28 in Hinds County.  

He was a Jackson police officer for eight months in 2013. Johnson was separated from the department pending disciplinary action leading up to immediate termination, but he resigned before he was fired, Jackson police confirmed to local media. 

Reed, 21, was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Water Valley to live with her grandparents and help care for her cousin, according to her obituary. 

Kylan Jacques Phillips was charged with first degree murder for beating Reed, according to court records. In February, the court ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court documents. 

At the bill signing, Gandy said it was bittersweet and an honor to meet the families of other domestic violence homicide victims.

“We were there knowing we are not alone, we can travel this road together and hopefully find ways to prevent and bring more awareness about domestic violence,” she said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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