Mississippi capital under boil water notice after suspected bad batch of chemicals found at water treatment plant
City officials in Jackson, Mississippi, are asking residents to boil their water as "complications" at a water treatment plant are addressed. Some residents in parts of the city have low water pressure or none at all, according to a press release from the city.
The issues began over the weekend when a worker discovered a problem at the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant. According to CBS affiliate WJTV, city engineer Dr. Charles Williams said they were forced to shut down a portion of the plant and empty the water after what was believed to be a bad batch of chemicals was put into the water.
The city first put out its precautionary boil water notice for all surface water connections on Monday.
"This has been an ongoing issue," resident Patricia Jackson told WJTV. "The saddest thing about this time was people were not informed. We got up to low or no pressure. I put it on my Facebook page to see if anybody else was having problems and come to find out, it wasn't just South Jackson."
On Tuesday afternoon, Williams said that water pressure had risen to 78 psi, up from 75 psi in the morning. The safe zone is between 85 and 90 psi, according to the press release.
Residents in southern areas of the city likely have low water pressure or no water at all, the press release said. Those residents without water are asked to contact the city.
The city distributed about 10 pallets of bottled water to residents in need on Tuesday, the press release said. City officials are waiting for updates from the Public Works Department to determine whether they need to continue distributing water.
Officials expect the boil water notice to be lifted as early as Thursday. But in order for that to happen, the Department of Health needs to conduct two positive water tests, the press release said.
According to the city's website, there have been several other boil water notices issued in Jackson in the past few months.