Jackson, Mississippi, the majority-Black city where tens of thousands of residents who went for two to three weeks without water have now had their water restored in most cases. But in videos that have gone viral online, many say it’s brown water that’s coming out of their taps. Meanwhile, the capital city remains under a boil water notice as children return to school.
The latest water crisis stemmed from a flooded water treatment plant but has been decades in the making. As residents look for solutions, Mississippi’s Republican Governor Tate Reeves says, quote, “Privatization is on the table,” unquote. But privatizing Jackson’s water system may be part of what led to the crisis.
I think the brown water is a reflection of the, really, system that’s been deteriorating now for decades. The story that I reported tracked how, starting in 2010, Siemens came to the city of Jackson, who was already suffering under a very faulty water system at that time, and said, “We have a solution. You can pay us $90 million” — it’s the largest contract signed at that time in city history — “We will install these new automated water meters. This will not only pay for itself, but generate extra revenue, which you can invest back into the water system.”
They came to the city offering a solution, but this contract ended up being a disaster. Not only did it not meet their promises, the automated meters didn’t work really at all. Many people stopped getting bills. Those who got bills received ones that were far too high, and did not pay them. And so it created massive deficits, and ultimately led to a lawsuit
— source democracynow.org | Sep 12, 2022