After one day of testing, Jackson reports continued high levels of turbidity

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Water customers in the capital city remain under a boil water notice after testing results showed turbidity levels were still high in samples taken Wednesday.

The Mississippi State Department of Health imposed a boil water notice for Jackson’s 43,000 surface water connections on Friday, citing high levels of water cloudiness. The city followed up with its own boil water notice on Saturday.

At a city council committee meeting Wednesday afternoon, Jackson city leaders said they hoped to lift the boil water notice by Friday, pending the outcome of two clean samples taken at the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant.

However, water samples taken that day “revealed a higher-than-standard level of turbidity caused by the use of lime to increase pH levels,” a release from the city stated.

“Samples showed a turbidity level of 3.5 units. This is above the standard of 0.30 turbidity units... The turbidity created by the lime increases the chance that the water may contain disease-causing organisms.”

Turbidity is the cloudiness of the water. The higher the turbidity, the less likely chemicals were able to kill all the potential pathogens during the treatment process.

Jackson continues to ask residents to boil their water for at least one minute before using it for drinking, cooking, brushing their teeth, preparing formula for babies, or feeding pets.

For more information, customers can call (601) 960-2723 during normal business hours or (601) 960-1875 after 4 p.m. and on weekends.

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