South Jackson residents without water amid latest water crisis

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Capital city residents were asked yet again to conserve water during the latest water crisis after the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant suffered another setback on New Year’s Day.

The city said in a release around 12 p.m. on New Year’s Day that customers can expect pressure fluctuation through the next 24 hours.

Water pressure was reportedly “largely restored” Friday. However, South Jackson residents like Leon Jones say they have not had water in eight days.

“I’ve had to conserve water to use the restroom to make us lose to try to make us make it to the next day,” Jones said. “I feel like that’s not fair. It’s not humane.”

While cooking dinner on Christmas Eve, families along Rainey Road say they had to interrupt their holiday plans when the pipes ran dry.

“I have no water. I’ve been without the use of water since Christmas Eve, approximately about 11 p.m.,” Jones said.

“My wife was actually in the process of completing the meals. And I had to react,” Ardell Williams said.

For days, Jones and his neighbor Williams say they’ve had to either get creative or pay a heavy price.

“This is the first time this doesn’t happen. So this little system that I have, I have incorporated so I can be online, probably about 10 to 15 minutes once I get the water from my friend. So it’s been a very, very uncomfortable situation,” Williams said.

“I have spent over $500 that I don’t have just that. I mean, I have a house full of food I can’t use right there. Because we don’t have any water to even function that way,” Jones said.

Williams and Jones say it’s been tough to complete basic tasks - from cleaning to using the restroom.

“If you go and just have to urinate, you’re not going, you’re not gonna flush it, or use your five-gallon bucket of water that first time. You’re gonna let it build up a few times. And that’s an inconvenience,” Williams said.

With the latest setback, residents aren’t optimistic for the year.

“I’m begging y’all now. Mayor, City of Jackson officials. Councilman, the governor? Yeah, help us, please,” Jones.

Councilman Aaron Banks is hosting a Town Hall meeting with interim third-party manager Ted Henifin tomorrow night at 6 p.m. in South Jackson.

Banks says it’s in response to the number of residents in Ward 6 who are without water or who have low pressure.

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