Mississippi Capital Without Reliable Running Water Indefinitely After Treatment Plant Failure
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Jackson, Mississippi will be without clean, reliable drinking water indefinitely, state officials said Monday night, after heavy rain and flooding exacerbated long-standing issues with the city’s water system.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said the city’s largest water treatment plant was failing and may have shut down entirely, adding, “Do not drink the water.” As a result, Reeves said, the city could not “produce enough water to fight fires, to reliably flush toilets, and to meet other critical needs.” The state’s health department declared a drinking water emergency on Tuesday — just days after a separate emergency declaration over flooding from Mississippi’s Pearl River.
Jackson itself is home to roughly 150,000 people, but the Jackson metropolitan area contains about 590,000 people. The news comes amid worldwide water-related troubles, including historic droughts in the western U.S., deadly floods in Pakistan and rising sea levels from melting glacial ice.
Coverage was widespread and mostly balanced across the spectrum on Tuesday. However, coverage was less common in some politics-focused outlets like Politico (Lean Left bias) and Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias).
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Right
Mississippi governor says Jackson cannot produce water to fight fires, flush toilets
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said that there is no longer reliable water after the failure of Jackson's main water-treatment facility left much of the capital city with low water pressure.
Reeves was briefed by the state's health department and told reporters in a Monday evening press conference that it had been a "near impossibility" to hold the city's main water-treatment facility together. He said that there was a "near certainty" that Jackson would fail to produce running water in the coming weeks or months if conditions did not improve.
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From the Left
Mississippi pump failure leaves 150,000 people without safe drinking water
The water supply in Jackson, Mississippi, remained unsafe for its 150,000 residents to drink or brush their teeth Tuesday after water treatment pumps failed Monday, exacerbating the city’s ongoing water crisis.
Excessive rainfall had doused the state capital and central Mississippi throughout August, and flooding of the Pearl River has created issues treating water at a Jackson plant, causing its pumps to fail, officials said.
Gov. Tate Reeves announced a state of emergency and warned residents to not drink the water Monday night as he said Jackson, where he also lives, did not have reliable running...
From the Center
Jackson water system is failing, city will be with no or little drinking water indefinitely
The drinking water system in Jackson — Mississippi’s largest city and home to more than 160,000 residents — is failing, state officials announced on Monday. Thousands of Jackson residents already have no or little water pressure, and officials cannot say when adequate, reliable service will be restored.
The city water system has been plagued with problems for years, including tens of thousands of residents losing water between one and three weeks during a 2021 winter storm.
At a press conference Monday night, Gov. Tate Reeves said the city’s largest water...
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