After numerous water line breaks left many homes with poor water pressure and dangerous drinking water on Sunday, Jackson, Mississippi, issued a notice recommending people boil their water.
“Due to the loss of system pressure, the City of Jackson Water/Sewer Utilities Division has issued a precautionary boil water advisory until further notice for ALL SURFACE WATER CONNECTIONS,” the water advisory said. “The system has lost pressure due to breaks in the distribution system that have not been identified. Some areas may be experiencing little to no water pressure.”
Residents in Jackson, Mississippi, were instructed to continue boiling water until the problem was fixed by city officials who are trying to discover the line breaks. The notifications follow a state of emergency declared by Republican Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves in August due to a lack of adequate water supply, which prompted people to later file lawsuits against the city and Democratic Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba.
“We thank you in advance for your help and understanding. We understand the timing is terrible. Please know that we hate to issue the notice during the Christmas holiday,” the city said in a statement.
According to CNN, the city advised people to switch off the water on Sunday while it was still above freezing and advised them to inspect businesses and churches for leaks.
After the city’s primary water treatment facility collapsed and more than 180,000 inhabitants had to boil their water due to unclean conditions, Reeves proclaimed an emergency in Jackson.
Residents in Jackson sued the city and Lumumba in September, claiming that the defendants had intentionally exposed them to dangerous water as a result of continuing problems with the city’s water system. While Lumumba ran for office in 2017, he pledged that Jackson would be “the most radical city on the planet,” but the area has been plagued by water and garbage collection problems.
Jackson’s trash collection service was discontinued in October as a result of the city council’s refusal to pay for a six-month contract. Due to the decision, trash collection was not available to roughly 150,000 people.
