With no end in sight to Jackson’s water crisis, residents line up for bottled water

By SCOTT SIMMONS

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    JACKSON, Mississippi (WAPT) — With no end in sight to the latest Jackson water crisis, the city of Jackson is distributing bottled water to residents.

Bottled water will be distributed Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Fire Station 20 at 4445 Medgar Evers Blvd., and at 12:30 p.m. at Fire Station 28 at 611 Terry Road. There is a limit of one case of water per vehicle, while supplies last.

The Mississippi State Department of Health issued a boil-water notice Friday for Jackson surface water customers because of higher-than-normal levels of turbidity, or cloudiness, in the city’s water supply.

High levels of turbidity increase the chance of disease-causing organisms in drinking water.

Jackson’s notice says that any water consumed should be boiled for at least a minute, including cooking, brushing your teeth and washing dishes.

The city handed out cases of bottled water at two locations Tuesday. Residents lined up at Delta Mart to receive a case of water. The supply was gone within about 30 minutes.

At a senior living apartment complex on Medgar Evers Boulevard, Jerome Bennett checked on his mother, Martha, and her ongoing water struggles.

“I don’t like what they are doing with the water. We have trouble with the water all the time,” Martha Bennett said.

Jerome Bennett was able to grab a case of water from a city giveaway site before it ran out Monday. Twenty-one water pallets were handed out Monday at fire stations across the city.

For more information, customers may call 601-960-2723 during business hours or 601-960-1875 after 4 p.m. and on weekends. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

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