Jackson, Miss., is located in the state of Mississippi. The governor's announcement that the water is clean again in Mississippi's capital came as a pleasant surprise.
The crisis in Jackson isn't over even if the boil-water advisory is lifted. While the state will stop giving out free bottled water at sites around the city Saturday night, the city said water pressure still hasn't been fully restored, and state health officials said pregnant women and young children should still use bottled water.
As soon as you turn on the water in my kitchen sink, it starts to smell like sewage. "It's horrible." That's what Wooten had to say earlier this month. I tried giving my dog the water, but she wouldn't touch it. She leaves from it.
The liquid flowing into her kitchen sink still smells like sewage, but it's not as bad as it used to be, and she's glad she won't have to go to a distribution site to get bottled water.
Other residents told The Associated Press on Friday that their water is too discolored to count on, so now they will have to rely on water distribution by community-run charities or buy water again themselves.
Jackson was under a boil-water notice by the state health department for a month when the Pearl River flooded. The water pressure suddenly went down.
What happened to this thing? Systemic racism is the root cause according to residents, politicians and experts.
Jackson's population fell after the city's schools integrated. Many white families left for the suburbs in order to make more money. Middle class black people moved out of the city to escape crime. Spending by the state and federal government did not make up the difference.
The isolation of racial minorities into communities with diminished tax bases has had consequences for the built environment.
Experts in water infrastructure and environmental justice told The Associated Press that other cities could face similar challenges with aging water systems that are ill-equipped to handle more intense and frequent flooding due to climate change.
Working-class communities of color are most vulnerable to water scarcity and contaminated water. The poverty level in Jackson is 24.5% and the population is 80% Black. The majority-Black city ofFlint, Michigan, has had difficulty removing lead from its water. Major cities like Baltimore and Honolulu, as well as smaller towns like Las Vegas, New Mexico, and Benton Harbor, Michigan, lack reliably safe drinking water.
After serving as the Environmental Protection Agency's southeast regional administrator, Heather McTeer Toney worked to clean up discolored tap water. She works for the Environmental Defense Fund. Many majority-minority communities don't have access to clean water.
Toney said that any community that is suffering from lack of infrastructure maintenance is dealing with the same issue. Poor communities that are often Black, brown, Indigenous and on the frontlines of the climate crisis are the same thing.
Government disinvestment in communities of color is caused by systemic racism. Jackson's troubles are the result of environmental racism.
Brown is a student at Jackson State University who was born and raised in the city.
Brown is a member of the Mississippi Students Water Crisis Advocacy Team, a group of about 30 students delivering water to residents who are disabled, elderly or don't have a vehicle. In Jackson, the people most affected are helping each other. People have been forced to buy water in stores due to the limited handouts.
There were two cases that contained just under nine gallons at the site in south Jackson. According to the EPA, the average American family uses roughly 300 gallons of water each day.
Replacing ineffective pumps, leaking filters and faulty pipes are some of the needed improvements at the city's treatment plants. Mayor Lumumba, a Democrat, has pleaded for patience while seeking state and federal help, saying such fixes could cost billions of dollars that the city doesn't have
During his visit to Jackson, the administrator of the EPA said that he wanted the city to get its fair share of federal money.
The amount of money Mississippi should spend on this problem is not known. The legislature directed $400 million of federal pandemic relief funds toward water infrastructure upgrades around the state, but it's unclear how much Jackson will get. We can't predict what will happen with the broken system in the future.
Many Jackson residents don't expect to see consistent drinking water anytime soon.
A charity run by a black woman and Jackson native helped organize the site where a woman got her water. The city's residents have experienced some level of water scarcity over the course of their lives.
I want to be positive. I don't think the infrastructure will be fixed in my lifetime and the water will not be a problem. My hope is that my son and his kids won't have to deal with this.
That's right.
Emily Pettus made a contribution to the report. Drew Costley has a verified account on the social networking site.
That's right.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute supports the AP Health and Science Department. The AP doesn't accept responsibility for all content.
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