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Sunday, September 04, 2022

The Water In Jackson, Mississippi Is Deadly!

Jackson, MS water system is bad.

The U.S. government is coming to the aid of Mississippi. It's bumbling governor Karen Reeves as celebrating the victory of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. He was too busy worrying about a woman's right to choose.

I guess now, he's concerned that the U.S. infrastructure is more important. The city of Jackson, the state's capital and largest city has a huge problem with its water. The water system has failed and it's become a big issue in the nation going into the Midterms.

Rep. Karen Kelly (R-MS), Rep. Karen Guest (R-MS), Rep. Karen Palazzo (R-MS), Sen. Karen Wicker (R-MS) and Sen. Idiot Karen Smith (R-MS) voted against the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

The Pearl River has reached it peak flood stages and it's affected the city. Now the water systems have failed and now the Republicans and Democratic socialist mayor want President Joe Biden to do something about it.

Residents have complained that they can't take showers, can't drink the water, can't even use it in any given way. 

FEMA now has invested in trying to help by giving more bottle water and emergency access. However it's going to take years to get the water infrastructure back to normal.

“Together, we have built a strong coalition to respond to the crisis,” said Governor Tate Reeves. “I’m incredibly appreciative to all the folks who are working together to help those in need.”

Mississippi governor Reeves and Jackson mayor Lumumba blame each other.

Reeves, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, and the mayor of Jackson toured the O.B. Curtis Treatment Plant Friday. While progress has been made, there have been setbacks.

Jim Craig with the State Department of Health explained a chemical imbalance.

“Today we had one of those difficulties that was a chemical imbalance about 2 o’clock this afternoon that slowed down the production of water out of the O.B. Curtis facility,” Jim Craig said. It was quickly addressed by the operators and brought back online.” There was also an ammonia leak.

“The Department of Environmental Quality Emergency Response team came in this morning with their contractors to help make sure that that leak was properly abated, and they’ll be working to make sure that the leak is stopped and the necessary repairs are made,” Craig said.

Stephen McCraney, the Executive Director of MEMA, says help is coming in from other states to provide personnel and expertise in fixing the problems at the plant.

McCraney said, “We’ve reached out through EMAC, the Emergency Assistance Compact, and we’ve got sister states that have qualified personnel in those positions in which we’ve identified we need to help those operators that are at the plant. They’re doing a great job. We just need more of them.”

Criswell also explains how federal money will be used.

“The Emergency Declaration that we have in place right now is specific to Jackson, Mississippi,” Criswell said.

The dollars can only be used for this specific instance. The funding is available to support the temporary measure to re-establish the pressure but also to sustain that pressure while they’re looking at the more permanent repairs.”

The EPA, Corps of Engineers, Department of Environmental Quality, as well as other assessment teams are on site to work on some of the many issues, including pump failures at the plant. A temporary rental pump is in place and working.

The Pearl River overflows.

Jim Craig said another win today was getting chlorine levels up. He says the two pumps that failed had parts dating back to the 1960′s, but they should be repaired and are expected back on site by September 9th.

Jackson has a population of 156,000 residents. The city has a majority Black population. 

Over 80% of the population is Black and it average wage is $34,000. The state is poor and a majority of the legislature is White. 

Republicans dominate the state's legislature and yet they never did anything to improve the capital region.

Of course they'll blame the Democrats for this. This is what the Republicans and far-right do. They scapegoat crime to Blacks and Democrats. They use crime as wedge issue in their culture wars.

Instead of solving problems, they'll double down.

Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, a self-described progressive, Black nationalist and socialist (endorsed by Bernie Sanders) let this problem get worse. Too busy appealing to white leftists with "taxing the rich" and "canceling student debt" while pretending to be down for the struggle of Black Jacksonians. 

Lumumba defeated the more moderate Black mayor Tony Yarber who knew that he would fuck up the moment he got in.

Lumumba knew about the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant. He knew that it was failing. He could have called up Washed Up 45 or encourage the do-nothing Sanders (I-VT) to generate funds to Jackson. This problem goes back to the Hurricane Barry overwhelmed the city's water system. Washed Up 45's plans to pass infrastructure failed due to his ongoing attacks on Democrats and Republicans.

Now that Biden is in office, now the responsibility falls on him like Flint did to Barack Obama.

Republican Karen Snyder was criminally indicted for allowing the water from Lake Erie and Lake Huron to be diverted and allowed the polluted Flint River get into the city of Flint water system.

That is still a major issue to this day.

Some commentators have charged the failing water system is an example of environmental racism, with the state failing to support infrastructure in its capital city. Critics point to Jackson's presence as Democratic leaning city with an overwhelming African American majority population in a Republican state with a white majority state legislature.

Shifting demographics in the late-20th and early-21st century, including white flight, reduced the city population, decreased the number of white residents as a proportion of the population, and led to an increase in the city's poverty rate.

The city has had a Democratic Party mayor ever since World War II.

Wealthier suburbs have newer infrastructure, but Jackson itself is left with a smaller tax base to support its aging system. Governor Reeves, a Republican, started holding press conferences when the August 2022 crisis began without inviting Lumumba, the city's Democratic mayor.

The crisis has also spurred discussion about how climate change is expected to strain existing infrastructure in the United States.

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