Environmental racism: The Jackson water crisis
Mississippi’s capital, Jackson, is the latest victim of environmental racism, with over 150,000 residents left without safe drinking water. The government’s continuous failures means that there is little to be done to put an end to this catastrophe.
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| Credit: BBC. |
There
is no drinking water in Jackson, but the residents continue to receive water
bills. There is no investment in infrastructure, so the residents are forced to
become beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program just to
afford to buy clean bottled water. There is no care for the residents, so
children are receiving online schooling because the schools can’t ensure safe
running water. With numerous residents going at least 18 months without running
water, Jackson is a city in crisis.
The
population of Jackson is more than 80% Black and the city has been drained of
resources by the White Republican leaders for many years. Wealthy White people
began fleeing Jackson in the late 70s after the desegregation of public
schools, which essentially depleted the city’s tax base. There is little public
money for repairing the city, much of which dates back at least a century.
Infrastructure is overlooked, arguably intentionally, in the city which has led
to a lack of safety for many Black communities. This Democrat-led city, a
majority of whose leaders are Black, have been pushing for funding and
essential infrastructure upgrades from the White Republicans who run the state.
Little to nothing has come of this.
This
vulnerable dilapidated water system has seen the city succumb to extreme weather
events like flooding, underscoring, and other climate change events. Reports
consistently detail how climate change disproportionally harms people of colour
and low-income communities.
Governor Tate Reeves declared this crisis an ‘immediate
health threat’, but experts argue that this immediate threat has been going on
for years. The water system in Jackson has been on the brink of collapse for
years. It was pushed closer to the edge in 2021, when a winter storm knocked
the system out for a month. Torrential rain at the end of August saw Mississippi’s
Pearl River severely flood leading the water treatment plant fail completely,
leaving residents without water to drink, to bathe in, or to even flush their toilets
with.
For
some, water is still, albeit barely, flowing accompanied with advisories to
boil all water before drinking to prevent infection. Floodwater contains large
levels of contaminants from ground runoff that is difficult to filter with even
a working water treatment plant. However, well before the August flooding, the
State Health Department have been warning people to boil their water due to
levels of turbidity and cloudiness. These notices have been issued several
times in the last two years alone.
This
time last week, state officials announced that 108 tractor-trailers of water
were heading to the city with a promise that at least one water treatment pump
would be repaired days later. This hasn’t happened and even if it had, it’s too
little too late. For a few days, the city dolled out cases of free bottled
water to citizens, resulting in mile-long queues. However, very quickly the
supply ran out.
On
30 August, President Joe Biden declared an emergency for Mississippi which saw
federal money funnelled into the area. However, these efforts were very little
and are merely a short-term solution while the national spotlight is beaming
down on the barren city of Jackson.
The
years in the making crisis which has only been seen by the world over the past week
continues as citizens of Jackson wait, scared and desperate, as their near empty
water towers leak the final few drops.