Mississippi’s Water Shortage

Mississippi’s water shortage has left hundreds of thousands of people without safe drinking water since late August of 2022 when the floods started and water water filtration couldn’t keep up.. This leaves the people of Mississippi wondering how long it will be until they have safe drinking water again. 

The water shortage has become a growing problem because of a failed water filtration system and floods overtaking the streets of Jackson Mississippi. The Washington post said, “for the more than 150,000 from Mississippi’s capital without safe drinking water, there is no end in sight.” and surrounding areas. Many people are left without drinkable water due to failures that occurred when trying to upgrade their water filtration system. NPR reported that “Residents of Jackson Mississippi are under boil-water advisories to concerns over contaminants like lead and E. coli bacteria, thanks to failures to upgrade Jackson’s aging infrastructure.”.  The state is working very hard in order to fix this problem, hopefully sooner than later. 

The floods are making it harder to fix the water system because they seem to have no end in sight. “It’s like fixing the airplane while you’re still flying. You have to be very careful how you fix it so that you stay flying,” Said Jim Craig on CNN who is the senior deputy and director of health protection at the Mississippi health department. “Jackson’s water’s been messed up; I don’t even feel like they should be issuing people bills,” said Roshonda Snell, 32, who works at a local hotel and is also a resident of Jackson Mississippi. “It’s infected, and you can’t even do nothing with it.”

There are people trying to find a long term solution and so far to temporarily fix the problem. According to The Washington Post, 108 tractor-trailers loaded with water that were taken to Jackson, Mississippi to help those without safe drinking water. “The governor said at least one water treatment pump was expected to be repaired early next week, although it was not clear when water service would be restored citywide.” stated The Washington Post. 

For now, people will have to resort to boiling water or going to one of the distribution sites across the city in order to get safe drinking water. Hopefully there will be a bigger solution in the near future.