Tag Archives: Jackson

Intense heat and flooding are wreaking havoc on power and water systems as climate change batters America’s aging infrastructure

Volunteers distributed bottled water after Jackson, Mississippi’s water treatment plant failed during flooding in August 2022.
Brad Vest/Getty Images

 

Paul Chinowsky, University of Colorado Boulder

The 1960s and 1970s were a golden age of infrastructure development in the U.S., with the expansion of the interstate system and widespread construction of new water treatment, wastewater and flood control systems reflecting national priorities in public health and national defense. But infrastructure requires maintenance, and, eventually, it has to be replaced.

That hasn’t been happening in many parts of the country. Increasingly, extreme heat and storms are putting roads, bridges, water systems and other infrastructure under stress. Continue reading

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‘It’s Like Nobody Cares’: After Two Weeks Without Running Water, Jackson, Miss. Pleads for Help

“Water is a basic necessity and it just brought a lot of frustration, anger, and disappointment,” said one of the city’s residents. “If you don’t know when it’s coming back, what is being done to help us?”

By Kenny Stancil, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 3-2-2021

City Council President Aaron Banks carries bottled water at a local distribution center in Jackson, Mississippi. (Photo: Screengrab from ABC 16 WAPT News)

“It’s been two weeks and I know families with infants who don’t have water. The city needs help. I’m thankful my water is trickling out enough to flush my toilet but dang. This just needs to be fixed at this point. It just needs to be fixed.”

That’s what Jamario Townsend, a resident of Jackson, Mississippi, recently posted on the city’s Facebook page, according to reporting by The Daily Beast. Tens of thousands of people in Jackson have lacked reliable access to running water for roughly two weeks and remain under a boil-water alert since a pair of mid-February winter storms damaged the capital city’s outdated water system, prompting renewed calls for major investments in upgrading infrastructure. Continue reading

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