JACKSON, Miss.—The City of Jackson will soon begin receiving federal funds to pay for repairing its beleaguered water system from the $600 million package Congress allocated and President Joe Biden approved last month, in addition to over $195 million from other funding sources since September 2022.
”[T]he appropriation means that these funds have been set aside for Jackson for reimbursement as we identify and complete our various water-infrastructure projects,” Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba said at a press conference on Thursday, Jan. 5.
“The process of repairing, replacing and modernizing the system will take years to complete, and our system remains vulnerable to severe weather events,” he added. “It has been deteriorating for decades, and there isn’t a valve to turn or a part to replace that can fix that overnight.”
Jackson’s troubled water system has suffered multiple system-wide failures since 2021, including in late December 2022 that continued into this month amid a winter freeze. This nearly two-week-long event cut off water to more than 150,000 people and forced Jackson Public Schools to hold virtual classes on Thursday and Friday—the first two days of the new semester. Many schools and offices still have low or no water pressure.
A U.S. Department of Justice order from November 2022 transferred control of the water system to Interim Third-Party Manager Ted Henifin, who will oversee plans to spend the congressional funds.
The appropriation includes $450 million for “capital projects” and $150 million for “technical assistance.” As the Mississippi Free Press previously reported, Henifin said at a press conference that the $150 million has “much broader applications, still water-focused, but we can use it for a variety of things.”
A federal judge appointed Ted Henifin (pictured) in November to oversee operations of the water system in the City of Jackson in November. Photo by Nick Judin
The mayor said Thursday that Henifin will provide him with “a timeline and implementation plan that will let the public see the steps being taken, the expected start and finish of projects, and the impact that each project will have on residents.”
Mayor: City Gets a Total of