Most customers in Jackson should have ‘some water’ following good night at treatment plant, third-party manager says

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Jackson water manager Ted Henifin says most customers should have at least some water flowing through their taps after a strong night of production at the city’s main water treatment plant.

“Overnight the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment [Plant] maintained strong production and was able to push much of the additional water into the distribution system to make up for losses incurred due to the Christmas deep freeze,” Henifin said Wednesday morning.

Curtis serves about 43,000 connections.

“This planned push, in combination with some transmission line valving changes, has allowed us to make great progress with the recovery,” he added. “We are not fully recovered, but most customers should now have some water and those at higher elevations should see water at some point this evening.”

Henifin says some fluctuation will continue as the day progresses, but his goal tonight is to “make another push to restore full pressure to the entire system.”

He was unsure exactly how many customers were without water, saying one person without service is too many.

Wednesday’s higher pressure also means the city is one step closer to lifting its boil water notices. Most customers on the surface water system have been under a boil water notice since Christmas, days after a severe cold front ripped across the city, ravaging its already fragile water system.

“We will begin sampling today... in ZIP codes that have full pressure restored and we will sample the remaining areas tomorrow, assuming water pressure is restored tonight,” he said.

Meanwhile, Henifin says some customers in the city are still without water and is urging everyone to curb their use of it.

Said Henifin, “Thanks for everyone’s patience. I remain committed to make the required investments over the coming year to ensure water outages are part of Jackson’s history - not part of our future.”

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