'We want our running water' - Jackson residents suffer in aftermath of water system failures

More than 161,000 residents in Jackson remain under a boil water notice, and there is no running water in the southern and western parts of the city according to Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba. But he says the issues go beyond a few leaking pipes. He says the city needs to escalate water treatment and refill water tanks to improve pressure. "You're talking about more than $100 million worth of equipment out there that it doesn't just turn on like this. It takes time for it to build up," says Lumumba. "That's why you're seeing cities across the country dealing with the same thing because they're faced with the same challenges. Vicksburg is trying to build its reserves back up. Canton is trying to do the same."

The Mississippi National Guard has stationing tanker trucks outside several Jackson schools distributing non-potable water for residents in need. Parts of the city have not had running water for more than a week. As Guard members fill her containers, Jackson resident Carol Green feels fortunate to have her daughter’s help traveling to a water distribution site. "I feel sorry for other senior citizens than myself. Especially those that are unable to get out, and I feel like they should have people to go to their houses to make sure they're okay, that they have what they need."

Several water trucks are scattered across the City of Jackson. The National Guard is helping residents fill canisters of non-potable water. People can use it to flush toilets but not much else.

“It took me about 60 gallons to fill up a tub a while ago” As he waited his turn, Wayne Johnson said his neighborhood has been without water since February 16. The back of his pickup truck is stuffed with containers and he has dozens of milk jugs in his passenger seat to fill for his neighbor. “She’s elderly. She can’t handle jugs of water so, I’m handling jugs of water so, you know I’m catching water and got coolers and jugs and everything else. I’m filling bathtubs up with water and everything else just to flush, and do what we can.”

Also at the site is Eva Burkhalter and her daughter Suneva. They're picking up bottled water and filling several containers so they can flush their toilets. Shuneva says “You know, having a baby and having kids at home with no water, it just feels, it’s inhumane. Especially when we’re paying for it. It’s not like we’re lazy or anything like that. We’re paying for it.”

Hundreds of cars lined the streets of downtown Jackson Saturday as residents waited to receive a box of food and water. West Jackson resident Tina Banks has been without running water for weeks. Her car is filled with two boxes of food and several cases of water that she says will be divided between four of her elderly neighbors. “It’s not much. I think they may have some milk in there. Carton of eggs or potatoes or something like that. But to boil your water, you know some of them are sick, and they can’t do it. We need help. Mississippi needs help.”

Hundreds of Mississippi residents are entering week four of a water crisis. The majority-Black capital city has suffered the most following February’s winter storm. Some people have no water at all, and those who do, can’t trust it and must boil it first. 

Marion Roberts went nearly a month without running water. For weeks, she kept her faucets open hoping to hear the sound of water flowing. She lives with her three adult children. 

Roberts has been trying to pick up water from city distribution sites or buy it at grocery stores so her family can try to have some sense of normalcy.   

“So, I've been trying to, like, keep up with it. You take baths with it, we take like four bottles of water take a bath,” she said. “Yeah. And we brush our teeth is one bottle. We're still not able to wash dishes.” 

The City of Jackson’s aging water system is being called into question through two new court cases that claim the city has knowingly allowed for high levels of lead contamination for more than half a decade. One lawsuit represents one child, while the other has hundreds of children as plaintiffs. The suits, filed Tuesday in federal court in Jackson, say the city of Jackson and the state Health Department have made “conscience-shocking decisions and have shown deliberate indifference that have led to Plaintiffs’ exposure to toxic lead in Jackson’s drinking water.”

Corey Stern is a New York based attorney who represented people who sued over the Flint Michigan water crisis. He says in Flint, the water crisis was addressed within three years. But in Jackson, Stern says the city’s water infrastructure has remained unchanged and can be dangerous to the health of children.

“To this day, the water in Jackson is just as bad if not worse as it was on day one,” says Stern. “There’s been no fix. People should not be drinking the water in Jackson Mississippi. They shouldn’t be cooking with the water, they shouldn’t be bathing with the water. And their officials are kinda silent on it.”

The City of Jackson is under an order from the Environmental Protection Agency to update it’s aging water system. The city had a month-long water outage in February following a winter storm, and a lawsuit is also underway claiming the city has allowed excess levels of lead to leach into the water supply.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan says the agency is focusing on environmental justice to help communities of color that have faced discrimination through years of infrastructure neglect.

“And so we’re gonna work very diligently with our state partners to be sure that in months, not years, communities like Jackson will be able to receive the funds and move forward with investing those funds,” says Regan. “I’m pledging to provide that partnership because Jackson Mississippi deserves to get the resources.”