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After weeks of city-wide shut offs, water has been restored in Jackson, Mississippi. However, most of the city is still under a precautionary boil water notice — until the water is tested and determined to be safe for consumption. Residents rightly continue to be skeptical of using the water for cooking, washing, bathing. There are still areas of the city with low water pressure — a problem being attributed to their distance from water-treatment facilities.
The boil-water notice and low water pressure point to long-standing infrastructural problems in the Blackest city in the Blackest state in the country.
Jackson’s acute water crisis began with a snowstorm during the week of Feb. 15. During the storm, almost all of Jackson was without water. The freezing temperatures caused many of the city’s aging pipes to burst and the main water-treatment plant became inoperable. Parts of the city’s water system are over 100 years old. Thousands of lives came to a standstill without access to a basic survival necessity.