JACKSON, Miss.—The U.S. Department of Justice is establishing an “interim third party manager” for the City of Jackson’s beleaguered water system. That manager is charged with stabilizing Jackson’s water production and distribution facilities and bringing the capital city back into compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The order places Jackson’s water-treatment system and its Water Sewer Business Administration, which handles billing, under the management of Edward “Ted” Henifin. He was previously the general manager of the Hampton Roads Sanitation District and once the director of public works for Hampton, Va. Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba and the Jackson City Council agreed to the terms of the order earlier this month.
Read the interim stipulated order that establishes the structure and responsibilities of Jackson’s new interim drinking water authority.
The DOJ’s intervention follows two consecutive years of severe water crises for Jackson. In 2021, a winter freeze kicked off a month without water for many residents as the City struggled to refill its damaged distribution system. This year, flooding exacerbated critical staffing shortages and accrued maintenance failures at the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment plant demanded immediate intervention to prop the system up.
In both instances, Jackson residents went for weeks without reliable access to safe running water.
Numerous ‘Priority Projects’ Ahead
The DOJ order empowers Henifin to “operate, maintain, manage and control” Jackson’s water system as well as its water and sewer billing authority, and to realize capital-improvement projects necessary to repair the system. Henifin and the agents of the interim third-party manager, or ITPM, have full access to the system’s records, authority over its operations and freedom to terminate or modify any of the city’s contracts, as well as enter into any new contracts as needed.
Henifin has been involved with the operations of O.B. Curtis and J.H. Fewell in his role at the Unified Command structure established this year after the resurgent collapse of the water system. Henifin, with four decades of public-service experience, has been on loan to the city’s water treatment facilities since September.
Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim wrote in a memorandum supporting Henifin’s appointment that
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