How years of 'conservative' neglect have imperiled Jackson’s troubled 'water infrastructure': report

22 February 2023

As climate change continues to escalate, one of its harmful effects will be threats to water supplies. Water systems, according to environmentalists, will become more difficult and more expensive to maintain.

One of the places where water-related infrastructure has been in an ongoing state of crisis, according to The Nation, is Jackson, Mississippi. In an article published by The Nation on February 22, journalist/author Hadas Thier takes an in-depth look at Jackson's water problems and cites neglect by Mississippi’s Republican officials as a key factor.

"The water infrastructure in Jackson — a city that is 83 percent Black — has been underfunded and crumbling for decades," Thier explains. "Now, the intensifying impacts of a changing climate are delivering a final blow…. While the water infrastructure may be deteriorating in cities across the country, not all cities fare the same. Jackson suffers more because it has been left to the mercy of conservative leadership in the state of Mississippi."

Jackson itself is Democrat-friendly, but Mississippi on the whole is a deep red state. President Joe Biden won 306 electoral votes in 2020, defeating Donald Trump by more than 7 million in the popular vote. But Trump carried Mississippi by around 16 percent, and Republicans dominate the state government.

Thier notes that Jackson suffered "water outages" in 2010, 2014 and 2018 because of severe storms, adding that another "water emergency" occurred in late 2022.

"The dysfunctional system leaves Jackson’s water supply vulnerable to E. coli and other contaminants," according to Thier. "Broken pipes decrease water pressure and flow, which allows contaminants to enter through the cracks. Water that isn’t properly treated also becomes corrosive, causing lead from old pipes to leach into the supply. And boiling water — a near constant exercise in Jackson — increases lead concentration."

Jackson resident Makeeba Parker told The Nation that many people in her city have "adapted to buying bottled water and using it every day" even when there isn’t a "boil-water notice." And another Jackson resident, Tracy Williams, suspects that her children’s eczema problems are connected to the city's troubling water crisis.

Williams told The Nation, "I have a 16-year-old son, a 13-year-old son, and an 8-year-old daughter.… Each one of my children has eczema. Have I been bathing my children in lead-based water? Have I been putting bacteria in my children from this water?"

Climate change, according to scientists and environmentalists, is causing a variety of water-related problems — from droughts in some places to severe flooding in others. In recent years, historic flooding has been a problem everywhere from Pakistan to Australia to California. But California, on the other hand, has also been facing severe droughts.

Reporter Susan Chenery, in an article published by The Guardian on February 19, stressed that people in parts of Australia have suffered so much flooding that their mental health is suffering.

UNICEF outlined climate change’s impact on water in a March 2022 update, explaining, "Climate change is disrupting weather patterns, leading to extreme weather events, unpredictable water availability, exacerbating water scarcity and contaminating water supplies. Such impacts can drastically affect the quantity and quality of water that children need to survive. Today, a change in climate is felt primarily through a change in water. Millions of children are at risk."

According to UNICEF, "Extreme weather events and changes in water cycle patterns are making it more difficult to access safe drinking water…. Around 74 percent of natural disasters between 2001 and 2018 were water-related, including droughts and floods. The frequency and intensity of such events are only expected to increase with climate change."

Read The Nation’sfull report at this link.

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