Lumumba: It would ‘literally’ cost a billion dollars to replace Jackson’s entire water system

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - The City of Jackson continues to deal with power outages and problems with water.

The city is now providing drinking water to those with low water pressure or no water at all.

Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba says one of the problems is there are breaks out there that have not revealed themselves because they are under ice. He discussed infrastructure and what’s ahead for the Capital City’s water woes.

“It’s a very expensive system to repair. It is expensive to change out hundred-year-old pipes that will cost literally more than a billion dollars to replace our entire system and so, you know, the good people that are at our Water Department and our Water Treatment facilities are working as diligently as they can in order to get that back up. But the only remedy that we have is time. Time to fill those tanks, time for the ice to melt so that we can make the repairs to the breaks within the pipes and the distribution system all across the city.”

Sites have been set up across the city for residents to pick up free water. The mayor helped deliver water to residents Thursday afternoon.

Mayor Lumumba also says the weather caused serious problems to the water system. Valves are frozen as well as instruments. Right now reserve tanks have been depleted.

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