密西西比州的官员正在杰克逊的一家水处理厂进行紧急维修，该厂商于8月29日失败，使该州首都和最大城市的居民没有自来水。它的市长说，但是该市的水基础设施最终将需要全系统维修，这可能会花费数十亿美元。

The O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant has a daily capacity of 50 million gallons under normal circumstances. However, the plant had not been operating normally, relying on backup pumps after the two main raw water pumps were damaged in early August, Gov. Tate Reeves said during a press conference. Then, the backup pumps failed on Aug. 29 during a flood of the nearby Pearl River, which caused a total or near-total loss of water pressure throughout Jackson and surrounding areas.

About 180,000 people live in the impacted area, Reeves said.

“Until it's fixed, it means we do not have reliable running water at scale,” Reeves said. “It means the city cannot produce enough water to fight fires, to reliably flush toilets and to meet other critical needs.”

Reeves and the Mississippi State Dept. of Health each issued a state of emergency Aug. 30 over the water crisis. The governor also mobilized the Mississippi National Guard to assist with emergency management efforts. President Joe Biden approved the emergency declaration and authorized the Dept. of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts.

Officials are having tanks of potable and nonpotable water trucked in for residents. But the priority is making repairs to the plant to get water pumping again, Reeves said. State officials created an incident command structure to begin emergency maintenance, repairs and improvements on the facility.

密西西比州卫生高级副总监兼卫生保护总监吉姆·克雷格（Jim Craig）表示，服务正在尽快恢复。该工厂将于8月30日恢复了约3000万加仑的治疗，预计安装租用的泵将增加400万加仑。然而，当进入植物的水导致工厂一侧的化学失衡，迫使其暂时关闭时，服务再次被打断，当时水压进一步降低了水压。

Growing Infrastructure Problems

杰克逊的水基础设施多年来一直面临越来越多的问题。市长Chokwe Antar Lumumba在新闻发布会上说，该系统“几十年来一直在失败”，但由于缺乏资源，该市受到了阻碍。他估计，仅解决杰克逊的水分配问题将花费10亿美元，而且可能会花费更多。

Lumumba说：“我多次说过，我们的系统是否会失败，而是我们系统何时失败的问题。”

The city already had aboil-water noticein place for about a month before the treatment plant failure because of cloudiness which could be a sign of disease-causing bacteria in the water.

As ENR previously reported, inFebruary 2021winter storms froze treatment plant equipment and pipes, leaving thousands of people without water. In parts of the city, the outages lasted nearly five weeks.

Since 2016, tests have shown inadequate treatment chemicals in Jackson’s water, which officials initially attributed to a failing corrosion control system at the Curtis plant. An optimized corrosion control treatment system was installed in 2017, but monitoring has shown the city consistently failed to meet treatment requirements under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency铅和铜规则into 2022. Jackson also has a second, smaller facility, the J.H. Fewell Water Treatment Plant, where corrosion control installation remains incomplete.

卢蒙巴说这座城市已经承诺mil 8美元lion for a 48-in. water line to south Jackson, which he said was disproportionately affected by the water crisis. The city has also committed millions of dollars more for weatherization of its treatment facilities following the February 2021 crisis.

卢蒙巴说，杰克逊还正在努力加强其水处理厂工作人员的行列，在需要数年的培训和认证中，有十名现有员工。他补充说，柯蒂斯工厂提供了一些异常的挑战，因为其中一半在“常规”治疗系统上运行，一半在膜系统上。大多数植物仅使用一个系统。

In July 2021, theEPA和城市官员reached an agreement setting steps and timeframes for the city to address its long-term drinking water challenges after federal inspectors identified operational and maintenance deficiencies.

Lumumba said the city had “committed every dollar that we could find in order to meet this challenge,” but money for Jackson’s water infrastructure has not historically been readily available. Nearly a quarter of the majority-Black city’s residents live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

卢蒙巴（Lumumba）说，资金短缺导致维护被延期延期，并使问题累积。

That may finally be changing. Since the plant failure, state officials have pledged to cover half the costs of repairs. The White House emergency declaration also makes federal money available.

“The city of Jackson is grateful for the support that we now are receiving from the state,” Lumumba said. “We’ve been going it alone for the better part of two years when it comes to the Jackson water crisis.”

Next Steps

克雷格说，迄今为止，在工厂工作的团队已经确定了在传统治疗方面的接下来的必要工作。

Raw water screens must be repaired. Pumps and motors must be replaced. The coagulant system must be restored. Team member also are trying to figure out why sedimentation basins are not draining in a timely manner, he added. The team now is identifying needed improvements on the membrane side, which has had its high-service pumps out of service due to electrical problems.

Reeves warned that sporadic service interruptions would continue as work is performed.