Congress investigates Mississippi’s infrastructure spending after Jackson water disaster

Oct. 18 (UPI) — Home Democrats have launched an investigation into how Mississippi state leaders spent hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in federal funds allotted for infrastructure after final month’s water disaster in Jackson.

Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., sent a letter to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on Monday questioning how greater than $10 billion in federal funding, particularly $429 million to reinforce the state’s water infrastructure, was allotted after the predominately Black capital metropolis of Jackson suffered a water infrastructure collapse this summer season that left hundreds with out operating water.

“On Aug. 29, 2022, torrential rain within the Jackson space induced floodwater to seep into the O.B. Curtis Water Therapy Plant, resulting in the failure of the backup pumps upon which the plant relied,” the letter, detailing the investigation by the Homeland Safety and the Oversight and Reform committees, stated. “The ensuing system-wide lack of water strain left Jackson residents with out dependable entry to secure ingesting water for greater than two weeks.”

Mississippi lifted its boil notice in Jackson and surrounding areas after seven weeks on Sept. 15.

“It’s doable, though I definitely pray not inevitable, that there will probably be additional interruptions,” Reeves stated final month. “We can’t completely predict what might go improper with such a damaged system sooner or later.”

Each Reeves and President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency to ship bottled water to roughly 180,000 residents throughout final month’s disaster after which Jackson’s Mayor Chokwe Lumumba argued the town was in no place to deal with the heavy rains and threats from local weather change as a result of state leaders had failed to offer monetary assist to repair the getting old plant.

In Monday’s letter, Maloney and Thompson additionally questioned why Jackson’s water infrastructure failed whereas “a neighboring suburb’s water service continued to stream.”

“Town, the vast majority of whose residents are Black, has additionally suffered many years of disinvestment, and residents report they haven’t gone greater than a month for over two years and not using a ‘boil water’ discover in impact,” the letter stated, including that most of the pipes beneath Jackson haven’t been correctly maintained for the reason that Fifties. “As a consequence of a gradual exodus of white and prosperous residents, the town has a lowered tax base to restore getting old infrastructure.”

On Friday, Reeves called for elevated staffing on the therapy plant to make sure “clear water continues to be delivered to the folks of Jackson.” The Mississippi Emergency Administration Company has requested the extension of an emergency procurement contract, scheduled to finish on Nov. 29, for extra staffing and upkeep on the therapy facility.

“MEMA is appearing because the coordinating company for the procurement of this contract. Staffing has been a crucial concern at these services, and we’re prepared to maneuver to the following section of stabilizing Jackson’s water providers,” Stephen McCraney, MEMA govt director, stated in a press release. “Our prime precedence is life security.”