Of water until the water ran out. And after spending their day like this in 90degree temperatures, many were turned away from the Distribution Event at hawkins airfield. The director of the state Emergency Management says seven Distribution Sites will be set up by thursday. In the meantime, people turned to stores where the shelves are nearly bare. Its very frustrating. Its very frustrating to have to fight for some water, you know what im saying. You got to mess around and buy five cases of water just to stay hyd hydrated. Reporter its just kind of scary. We dont know when anythings going to get done. You come in the store and its empty. Water were talking about. Lets back up and talk about how we got here. Moderate flooding in jackson, mississippi, crippled the citys largest Water Facility. National guard troops trained for the devastation of hurricanes, theyve been deployed, but this is not a disaster, some once in a lifetime storm. American citizens in 2022 struggling for the most basic human need is the culmination of decades of failure to fix a system that dates back to the 1950s. This failure is so foreseeable that the president mentioned jackson by name more than a year ago. Never again can we allow what happened in flint, michigan, and jackson, mississippi, can never let it happen again. That was part of the celebration for the Senate Passage of the infrastructure act. It allocated billions of dollars for mississippi Includinge Ing 429 million for water infrastructure. That money is supposed to stretch across the entire state. Where is that money now . Im joined now by Jackson City Council member aaron banks and cassandra welchland. Shes a social work trer tryingo help her neighbors and a mother of three trying to get her family through this crisis. Cassandra, let me start with you and how your family is dealing with this. Thank you, victor, for having me. So our family today weve been, you know, working to just adjust. My children are out of school and we have been having to, of course, buy water to cook, to brush our teeth, to just do the basic necessities that we need in order just to keep our family afloat. So today was online zoom and also feeding our kids at home, but the water was we had low water pressure today. The water was brown when we turned it on this morning. Weve gotten a little bit more pressure as the day has gone on, but its definitely been of course an inconvenience, not just for my family but for families across the city of jackson. Weve got a picture that you sent us of the water that comes out of the spigot. This is at your bathtub. The mayor says that the city right now is under a boil water advisory. If you boiled that water, i mean, its brown. Would you even use that water after boiling it . So we have been on a boil water notice for almost a little over a month now, about a month, and we have not used that water to even cook with. Today will be no other day. We still would not use that water. We dont boil it to do anything with it because grit is in the water, and so we will not use it. And so weve been, you know, going to the store, you know, buying water, and not just my family but also our organization, the Mississippi Black womens round table, how weve been serving the community and have begun to put our boots on the ground with other partners to be able to serve the community. So no, we will not use that water, and today i had to remind my kids, you know, dont use the water to brush your teeth. You need to get a bottle of water and so we have bottles of water in their rest rooms because grit comes out of and over the weekend it was even worse. It was brown, and this is even before, you know, the cresting of the reservoir happened. So its a pretty its a real inconvenience, and it is a Public Safety issue, particularly when youre talking about our children and youre talking about, you know, elders in the community. Its a really bad Public Safety issue for not just my family but for all of our families in jackson, mississippi. Yeah, beyond consuming it or using it to brush your teeth, i mean, i couldnt imagine anybody would want to bathe in that water that we saw in the bathtub. Councilman, let me come to you, and no community should have to rely on the water we just showed and not have, you know, reliable, clean, potable water. But id be remiss if i didnt point out that this is a majority black city, 82 there in jackson. Tell me what youre seeing and how this is impacting the people that you represent. Yeah, first of all, i appreciate it. Look, it is very hard to bear. This is not our first time here. Two years ago february we had a winter storm where city of jackson went around four weeks without water, but however, the subjects area, which is the ward i represent went six weeks to seven weeks without any water at all, and since that time there has not been a month where we have not experienced no flow to low flow in certain areas in south jackson. And so its very frustrating. I would say that the citizens here are resilient because all hands step up to the plate as always to help make that were serving our vulnerable communities and that were able to provide nonpotable and potable water, so were used to the emergency. Sated part about it is and the sad reality is this is becoming somewhat of a norm, and we deserve a better quality of life right here in the capital city of jackson, mississippi. So whats the plan . I know there was a Water Distribution today. We talked about it, several hundred cases of water at the end of it cars had to just make a uturn and leave because there was none left. What are you going to do for the people that live there for the next several days or weeks until this is solved . So look, it will be the same that we did in 2020. Since last night around 7 30, there was a 6,000 gallon tanker deployed in my ward at Forester High School that is just providing flushing water. One of the first things that we realized is that people need to be able to flush because that becomes a problem as far as making sure that, you know, people have that quality of life they need, especially when school is out, children are at home, you know, people are at home, and so we wanted to provide those gallons of water in those tankers throughout ward six to make sure theyre able to flush. On top of that, we are talking with partners, people like world central kitchen, people like my cox National Black caucus to try to get help and to bring that bottled water, the city of jackson has stepped up and providing power so that we can continue that, but you know, at the end of the day, we need a fix, and the same attention that was given to flint, michigan, we need that same attention given to jackson. We need to make sure that these resources that need to come to this city, instead of them going to the state, we need to make sure that our legislators on the federal level and that theres some type of Executive Authority to make sure it comes directly to the city so we can do what we need to do even if that means getting a new water plant. And ill add to, that victor, one of the things that, you know, tomorrow morning we have, of course, partnered the Mississippi Black womens round table have partnered with New Horizon Church and other par partners, peoples advocacy institute, and so tomorrow morning we will be having truckloads of water thats going to be coming every day to be able to distribute to communities. Again, one of the things that aaron talked about is and you said, we are 80 black community, but also a third of those folks live in poverty, and many of our children are on free and reduced lunch. And so when we talk about whos impacted those families, were talking about jobs, right . They have to stay at home, you know, with their families, and so were talking about child care. So not only are we still coming out of covid, which is an economic security, you know, issue for so many families, were still here trying to provide those kinds of resources. People dont have 1,000 saved up to be able to meet the crises that is before us, and so community has been doing this for two years now, coming to our own rescue, and so we will continue to do that, but definitely as aaron said, the state must kick in the money, the resources so that we can get our infrastructure fixed. There certainly needs to be a fix. I mean, every human deserves clean water, and the people there in jackson pay taxes so theyre paying for that water. Councilman aaron banks, cassandra welchland, i thank you both. Yes, sir, thank you so much. Much more on this growing water emergency ahead, how does a capital in the United States of america have no safe Running Water to drink in 2022, and how does this crisis get resolved . And were waiting for a big filing from the Justice Department soon about the search of Donald Trumps home. What new details might be revealed. Well talk about that ahead. Announcer Cnnnn Tonight i brought to you by free style libre. 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The Inflation Reduction Act caps the cost of insulin at 35 a month for seniors. Thats more savings for us. Why is roger happy . Its the Little Things carvana does. See, roger wants to sell his car stat. Little things like getting a real offer in two minutes really make roger happy. So does carvanas customer advocate caitlin picking up his car at promptly 10am. Hi, are you roger . Berglund. With the honda accord . Yes i am. Its right over there. Will i be getting . And he loves that caitlin pays him on the spot. Yep, rog. Its the Little Things that drive you happy. Well drive you happy at carvana. New astepro allergy. Now available without a prescription. Astepro is the first and only 24hour steroid free spray. While other Allergy Sprays take hours astepro starts working in 30 minutes. So you can. Astepro and go. An American City where 150,000 people cannot flush the toilet. Its a disaster too many people in jackson, mississippi, knew was coming. Two years ago the citys water failed an epa inspection, and then last year the epa and the city of jackson agreed to Work Together to make needed improvements, and still, since february 2021, listen to this, people in jackson have been under some sort of a boil water notice at least four times according to the citys website. And as recently as last month, City Officials found cause for concern about lead and copper in routine water samples from residents taps. Im joined by former congresswoman Abby Finkenauer and former special to george w. Bush Scott Jennings, and before there was jackson, there was flint. Sara sidner has covered the struggles there after most of the National Media moved on. Thank you all for being here. Sara, let me start with you because it is unimaginable that we are here again with a major city, and im going to say it again, a major black city in america that is struggling just to get clean drinking water. Thats right. I think it isnt unimaginable, though. I think it is probable, and if you look at some of the studies, there was one out of texas a m that said, you know, if there is a significant pofrverty in a ple and if the place happens to be nonwhite, the likelihood of having water issues goes way up. And so when you think about that and what has happened here, these are just two examples. There are places in alabama, in louisiana, in texas, where this is happening or something similar to this has been happening with the boil water orders that go on and on and on, and people in the black communities, you know, flint was one of those major examples that was just so egregious that the world stood up and listened, and they watched what was happening, ask they are still dealing with issues, and one of the big issues is particularly in the black community, they do not trust the water. People are still going and getting bottled water because they know that lead can lead to long years of problems in their children, difficulties learning, hyperactivity, all kinds of things. Cancer risk goes up, and so because of that, there is a huge distrust and a warranted one by folks in the black communities particularly in poor neighborhoods. Abby, how did we get here with the two of the biggest federal spending bills in u. S. History have not gotten jackson where it needs to be. Id be asking what has governor tate been doing. We know what governor tate has been doing. Hes been Walking Around the street talking about Critical Race Theory and bathrooms instead of doing his dang job as the governor of that state. In april, this actual year in 2022, they passed and he signed a 524 million tax cut when now his people dont even have drinking water. And by the way, its not like he doesnt know, right . This is the capital of mississippi. He knows and what has he done . Look, they passed the Infrastructure Bill, which by the way, only one of mississippis senators actually voted for and only one of their congresspersons did, the only democrat sitting there actually voted to bring in that money, but it also relies on the state and the localities to do their jobs and bring those dollars into the communities who need them. The epa has been trying to work with the city, yet theres still been holdups, even when it comes to hiring people for the Water Facility itself to keep it running. They knew it was hang. The fact theyve been under a boil warning for the last month is absurd that this is where we are right now. But again, it is when Public Servants fail to do their dang jobs and cant even do the basics. Scott. Yeah, i think this is one of the worst run city in america. Youre upset with governor reeves but this mayor and this city council has utterly failed, Councilman Bank we had on, hes been in office since 2017. Theyve known about the Water Problems in jackson for quite some time. I think the Infrastructure Bill that passed according to what i learned from the Governors Office today is actually going to end up funding some of the fixes in jackson along with some state money. It does take time to do that, but i think local leadership matters. Its mayors and City Councils that manage things like water, and they have utterly failed the people of jackson. Theyve also had issues there with their police department. Theyve had issues there with garbage collection. Theres just been a real quality of life degradation. I think its at the feet of the mayor and the city council. You think the governor has no responsibility here . I think the governor has stepped in an unprecedented situation. They have essentially taken over. What i learned today is that the governor Governors Office, a republican, and the federal president ial administration run by a democrat are actually working together here. You have three layers of government, federal, state, and local. Federal and state have stepped in together. The epa has been after the city of jackson for years on maintenance and stacffing and theyve not done their job in the city. But governor reeves and joe bidens epa working in a bipartisan fashion are actually functioning properly at the moment. But that city has got to step up. And i hear you to an extent here, but come on, 524 million tax cut when this is happening in the capital city of jackson, mississippi . Why hasnt the State Government helped to do their actual jobs . I mean, this is the actual problems. Who do you think runs Water Utility . These localities the mayor. Where do these localities get the funding though . This is how it works. Its on states to step up and work with the federal government and to work with these localities. They knew it was happening, they watched it happen and yet they havent cared or done enough. Thats sad that this is the United States of america and this continues to happen. I mean, last thing ill say is this, i remitted iowa when the derecho hit. It was horrific. It was a Natural Disaster nobody saw coming and there i was just trying to feed my people literally and within 45 minutes we were out of food. It was the worst feeling ive ever had in my life. It changed me as a public servant, changed me as a human, and the idea that if i could have known, right, i would have if i had any idea