Bryam takes steps to establish its own water system

BYRAM, Miss. (WLBT) - Mayor Richard White and Public Works Director Bill Miley say many Byram residents are frustrated they are paying Jackson for quality water service, but not getting it.

An example of that happened during last year’s ice storm that crippled the Capitol City.

“We was out about a month,” stated Miley. “Last summer, they did a repair, and it broke four times last year and the other three times was the contractor.”

Byram officials say the water woes have continued, so they believe it’s time to disconnect from Jackson’s water system and build their own system for their own customers.

“We can have our own staff and a faster response, and that will be serving our public and our customers, especially our commercial customers,” said Miley.

“We have our own waste system here and we’re going to have on water system,” added White.

Recently, city leaders agreed to have an appraisal done to see how much it will cost to replace and repair any existing pipes in Byram; one of the many steps in a long process to become independent from Jackson.

“We hired an engineer to do an assessment, and he took into consideration the age of the pipes and the value of them when they were put it in and how long they’re supposed to last and gave us an appraisal,” said Miley.

The next step is for Mayor White to meet with the City of Jackson about Byram establishing its own water source, which could take at least three to four years to build.

“Talk to them about the appraisal and try to work out something with them,” the mayor said. “I want to approach the legislature and I also want to see if we can get some help with financing the water. It is a pretty expensive deal, so we want to make sure we do that, but the next step is a sit-down with Jackson and see what they think.”

Recently, Millsaps College announced that it will be joining the fairgrounds and building its own water systems and disconnecting from Jackson.

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