Justice Department to hire interim manager for Jackson water system

The federal government submitted a proposal Tuesday to hire a manager for the troubled water system in Mississippi's capital city, which nearly collapsed in late summer and continues to struggle.

The Justice Department said in a news release that the proposal is meant to be an interim measure while the Mississippi State Department of Health, the city of Jackson and the federal government try to negotiate a judicially enforceable consent decree. The goal is to achieve long-term sustainability of the system and the city s compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act and other laws.

The proposal needs the approval of a federal judge, according to the city and state health department.

The Justice Department filed a complaint on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency against Jackson, alleging that the city has failed to provide drinking water that is reliably compliant with the Safe Drinking Water Act. The agreement says that litigation will be put on hold for six months while all parties try to improve the water system.

Edward Ted Henifin was appointed interim third-party manager of the Jackson water system and Water Sewer Business Administration, the city's water billing department. Henifin is a registered professional engineer who served as general manager of the Hampton Roads Sanitation District in Virginia for 15 years. He was a director of public works for the city of Hampton, Virginia before that.

Henifin will be tasked with implementing 13 projects, according to the proposal. The projects are intended to improve the water system's near-term stability, according to a news release. The winterization project is one of the most pressing priorities, and it will make the system less vulnerable. A cold snap in 2021 left tens of thousands of people in Jackson without running water after pipes froze.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in the news release that the Justice Department is taking action in federal court to address long-standing failures in Jackson's public drinking water system. The Department of Justice takes seriously its responsibility to keep the American people safe and to protect their civil rights, Garland said. Together with our partners at the EPA, we will continue to seek justice for the residents of Jackson, Mississippi. We will continue to prioritize cases in communities that are most burdened by environmental harm. EPA Administrator Michael Regan, who has been to Jackson four times in the past year, said that the Justice Department action marks a critical moment on the path to secure clean, safe water for Jackson residents, and he is grateful to Garland for responding quickly to the city's water crisis.

Over the past year, I have had the privilege to spend time with people in Jackson - many who have struggled with access to safe and reliable water for years, Regan said. I pledged that EPA would do everything in its power to make sure the people of Jackson have clean and dependable water, now and into the future. The Justice Department's action marks a critical moment on the path to securing clean, safe water for Jackson residents, despite the fact that there is much more work ahead. Jackson has had water problems for decades. Most of the city lost water for several days after heavy rainfall exacerbated problems at the city's main water treatment plant in late August. When that happened, Jackson had already been under a boil-water advisory for a month because health inspectors had found cloudy water that could make people sick.

The boil-water advisory was lifted in mid-September, but many people remain skeptical about water quality.

Nearly 80% of Jackson's 150,000 residents are Black, and about a quarter of the population lives in poverty.