Thousands of people in Jackson, Mississippi, recently entered their third week without water service after devastating winter storms made their way through the area, freezing and bursting pipes along the way.
Officials do not have an estimate for when water service will be restored, according to Mississippi Today. As of Feb. 28, city workers had completed 51 repairs of the 80 water main breaks that were reported.
“We are glad to see that the process is working. While it isn’t working to the speed we would like to see, we are glad to know that we are on the right track,” Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said during a Sunday press conference. “We’re not happy until we can restore water service to every single last person in this city.”
Nonprofit Groups Working to Help Texans Repair Burst Pipes
A Christian engineering nonprofit grouped called Water Mission is working with Austin (Texas) Disaster Relief Network and Plumbers Without Borders to help residents in the central part of the state repair burst pipes and water damage from the recent winter storms.
The groups are working together to organize volunteer labor and acquire plumbing supplies to get drinking water flowing to some of Texas’ more vulnerable residents, including the elderly, disabled and uninsured, according to the Austin-American Statesman.
Residents in need can call the Crisis Cleanup Hotline at 800-329-8052.
Water Outage in Austin Influenced by Obscure Gear Switch
Power outage issues during the recent storms that led to a boil-water notice at Ullrich Water Treatment Plant in Austin, Texas, were related to a 52-year-old gear switch that staff members didn’t know how to operate, KVUE News reports.
Texas regulations require water treatment facilities to have backup power sources or water reserves in case of power outages, and the plant has both. However, after a tree limb took out power at the plant, no one immediately knew how to operate the gear switch that would have restored power, causing the facility to become inoperable for three hours while water reserves were drained.
