In August 2022, flooding from the Pearl River caused the city's largest water treatment plant to fail. This left at least 150,000 residents with no access to safe drinking water. It was declared a public health crisis.
At least 50 Jackson residents attended a meeting with officials from the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency. They expressed both satisfaction and concern with the city's water system.
Some residents who spoke at the meeting were pleased with the newly formed JXN Water.
One unnamed resident said he’s seen improvements since 2022.
“It used to be over the winter, we'd have a lot of breaks,” he said. “It would be a lot of boil water notices that would go out. Since then, especially over the past year, I haven't thought about water.”
Another resident, Jermany Gray from South Jackson, echoed these sentiments.
“I'll say back in December 2022, I woke up with no water on Christmas Day,” he said. “Fast forward to Christmas 2023, I had water. If that’s not a sign that improvements have been done, then I don't know what it is. As we approach the winter, I know it's a little bit far off, I do have more confidence that we will be able to maintain our levels of water and hopefully have water on Christmas again.”
However, some residents did raise a number of concerns. One woman, Ms. Sullivan, said she had a lot of complaints.
“I'm not seeing the progress that everyone else is,” she said. “I cut my water on weekly and it smells like sewer. Sewer! It hits you in the nose. We are itching when we bathe. I’ve called JXN Water at the 500 number numerous times.”
Sullivan went on to add another grievance.
“My main problem, I want to know why I'm being charged an extra $40 a month for accessibility,” she said. “Who determined that this was legal, to put [a] $40 charge on me?”
Another resident complained about the lack of boil water notices.
“I would just appreciate the boil water notices because it was said we haven't had them,” she said. “We're having lots of them, but everyone doesn't know about them. And it needs to be given in a different way besides the Next Door app. Everyone doesn't go to the website to see it. Everyone can't go to the Mississippi Department of Health every morning to check. We need to have a reliable way to get those.”
Keriema Newman is a director with the EPA. She says the agency will be taking all of the resident's feedback into consideration.
“We've had an opportunity to take the time and listen to the concerns from the community and we will appropriately share that type of communication that we received, collate the issues that are communicated to us with both JXN Water and the city of Jackson.”
The next opportunity for public feedback will be at JXN Water’s next quarterly meeting, which will be held on November 9.
