Newspaper reporter Molly Minda posted a shocking video of dark brown water gushing from her bathroom sink as a six-week boil notice extended into the weekend. Jackson’s main water treatment plant couldn’t handle the heavy rainfall that caused flooding along the Pearl River last month, accelerating damage to the fragile system. A flood of raw water contaminated a tank’s supply, slowing processing, depleting reserves and causing an unsafe pressure drop. Some pumps were already out of order before the rain, leaving the plant to rely on backups. The antiquated system had already collapsed from a series of freezes that froze pipes last winter, leaving many of the city’s 150,000 residents without water. The Environmental Protection Agency told Jackson months ago that its water had violated the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The city’s water crisis continues, with no indication of when the problem will be solved. Molly Minta/Mississippi Today vi EPA officials called on Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for the capital to receive “its fair share” of federal money to rebuild its system under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law by President Biden last fall . The Magnolia State was to receive $429 million over five years set aside for water treatment under the $1 trillion measure, according to the White House. As the crisis continued this week, cars lined up to collect bottled water as restaurants brought in tanks of clean water from outside the city. Jackson has lost about a third of its tax base since 1980 to white flight, and one in six residents live in poverty. With AP cables
