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17-09-2022, 11:51 AM
By DREW COSTLEY
yesterday
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Carey Wooten spent nearly seven weeks hunting for safe drinking water for herself, her two children and three dogs
......
Gov. Tate Reeves’ announcement that the water is clean again in Mississippi’s capital came as welcome news.
But the crisis in the city of Jackson isn’t over, even if its boil-water advisory was lifted on Thursday. While the state plans to stop handing out free bottled water at sites around the city Saturday night, the city said water pressure still hasn’t been fully restored, and state health officials said lead in some pipes remains so worrisome that pregnant women and young children should still use bottled water.
......
Wooten said Friday that the liquid flowing into her kitchen sink still smells like sewage, but not as bad as before
......
Other residents told The Associated Press on Friday that their water remains too discolored to count on, so now they’ll have to rely on water distribution by community-run charities or buy water again themselves, adding insult to injury.
......
How did this happen? Residents, politicians, experts and activists say systemic racism is the root cause.
Jackson’s population has declined since 1980, a decade after the city’s schools began integrating. Many white families left for the suburbs, leaving less revenue to maintain the infrastructure. Middle class Black people then moved out to escape urban decay and rising crime. State and federal spending never made up the difference.
“The legacy of racial zoning, segregation, legalized redlining have ultimately led to the isolation, separation and sequestration of racial minorities into communities (with) diminished tax bases, which has had consequences for the built environment, including infrastructure,” said Marccus Hendricks, an associate professor of urban studies and planning at the University of Maryland.
Other cities across the United States could face similar challenges with aging water systems that are ill-equipped to handle more intense and frequent flooding caused by climate change, experts in water infrastructure and environmental justice told The Associated Press.
And when it comes to water scarcity and contamination, they say working-class communities of color are most vulnerable. Jackson’s population is more than 80% Black and the poverty level is 24.5%
Much more at: https://apnews.com/article/science-race-...bc3ee0f8b9
yesterday
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Carey Wooten spent nearly seven weeks hunting for safe drinking water for herself, her two children and three dogs
......
Gov. Tate Reeves’ announcement that the water is clean again in Mississippi’s capital came as welcome news.
But the crisis in the city of Jackson isn’t over, even if its boil-water advisory was lifted on Thursday. While the state plans to stop handing out free bottled water at sites around the city Saturday night, the city said water pressure still hasn’t been fully restored, and state health officials said lead in some pipes remains so worrisome that pregnant women and young children should still use bottled water.
......
Wooten said Friday that the liquid flowing into her kitchen sink still smells like sewage, but not as bad as before
......
Other residents told The Associated Press on Friday that their water remains too discolored to count on, so now they’ll have to rely on water distribution by community-run charities or buy water again themselves, adding insult to injury.
......
How did this happen? Residents, politicians, experts and activists say systemic racism is the root cause.
Jackson’s population has declined since 1980, a decade after the city’s schools began integrating. Many white families left for the suburbs, leaving less revenue to maintain the infrastructure. Middle class Black people then moved out to escape urban decay and rising crime. State and federal spending never made up the difference.
“The legacy of racial zoning, segregation, legalized redlining have ultimately led to the isolation, separation and sequestration of racial minorities into communities (with) diminished tax bases, which has had consequences for the built environment, including infrastructure,” said Marccus Hendricks, an associate professor of urban studies and planning at the University of Maryland.
Other cities across the United States could face similar challenges with aging water systems that are ill-equipped to handle more intense and frequent flooding caused by climate change, experts in water infrastructure and environmental justice told The Associated Press.
And when it comes to water scarcity and contamination, they say working-class communities of color are most vulnerable. Jackson’s population is more than 80% Black and the poverty level is 24.5%
Much more at: https://apnews.com/article/science-race-...bc3ee0f8b9
