Charotar Globe Daily
License Photo” height=”532″ src=”https://cdnph.upi.com/svc/sv/upi/4921666066813/2022/1/dff46852e33a3f3587faa73045c28784/Congress-investigates-Mississippis-infrastructure-spending-after-Jackson-water-crisis.jpg” title=”Congress launches an investigation into Mississippi state spending after 180,000 residents in the predominately Black capital city of Jackson were forced to drink bottled water for weeks over the summer after the city’s water treatment plant failed during heavy rains. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo” width=”800″>
Congress launches an investigation into Mississippi state spending after 180,000 residents in the predominately Black capital city of Jackson were forced to drink bottled water for weeks over the summer after the city’s water treatment plant failed during heavy rains. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 18 (UPI) — House Democrats have launched an investigation into how Mississippi state leaders spent millions of dollars in federal funds allocated for infrastructure after last month’s water crisis in Jackson.
Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., sent a letter to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on Monday questioning how more than $10 billion in federal funding, specifically $429 million to enhance the state’s water infrastructure, was allocated after the predominately Black capital city of Jackson suffered a water infrastructure collapse this summer that left thousands without running water.
“On Aug. 29, 2022, torrential rain in the Jackson area caused floodwater to seep into the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant, leading to the failure of the backup pumps upon which the plant relied,” the letter, detailing the investigation by the Homeland Security and the Oversight and Reform committees, said. “The resulting system-wide loss of water pressure left Jackson residents without reliable access to safe drinking water for more than two weeks.”
Mississippi lifted its boil notice in Jackson and surrounding areas after seven weeks on Sept. 15.
“It is possible, although I certainly pray not inevitable, that there will be further interruptions,” Reeves said last month. “We cannot perfectly predict what may go wrong with such a broken system in the future.”
Both Reeves and President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency to deliver bottled water to approximately 180,000 residents during last month’s crisis after which Jackson’s Mayor Chokwe Lumumba argued the city was in no position to handle the heavy rains and threats from climate change because state leaders had failed to provide financial support to fix the aging plant.
In Monday’s letter, Maloney and Thompson also questioned why Jackson’s water infrastructure failed while “a neighboring suburb’s water service continued to flow.”
“The city, the majority of whose residents are Black, has also suffered decades of disinvestment, and residents report they have not gone more than a month for over two years without a ‘boil water’ notice in effect,” the letter said, adding that many of the pipes under Jackson have not been properly maintained since the 1950s. “Due to a steady exodus of white and affluent residents, the city has a reduced tax base to repair aging infrastructure.”
On Friday, Reeves called for increased staffing at the treatment plant to ensure “clean water continues to be delivered to the people of Jackson.” The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has requested the extension of an emergency procurement contract, scheduled to end on Nov. 29, for more staffing and maintenance at the treatment facility.
“MEMA is acting as the coordinating agency for the procurement of this contract. Staffing has been a critical issue at these facilities, and we are ready to move to the next phase of stabilizing Jackson’s water services,” Stephen McCraney, MEMA executive director, said in a statement. “Our top priority is life safety.”
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