More than 161,000 residents in Jackson remain under a boil water notice, and there is no running water in the southern and western parts of the city according to Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba. But he says the issues go beyond a few leaking pipes. He says the city needs to escalate water treatment and refill water tanks to improve pressure. "You're talking about more than $100 million worth of equipment out there that it doesn't just turn on like this. It takes time for it to build up," says Lumumba. "That's why you're seeing cities across the country dealing with the same thing because they're faced with the same challenges. Vicksburg is trying to build its reserves back up. Canton is trying to do the same."
Officials say some residents may not have water until the end of the week.
Power has been restored to most homes in the state, and experts say almost all outages will be resolved either today or tomorrow. As of 6:00 p.m. on Monday, 13,000 outages remained across the state according to the Public Service Commission. Entergy Mississippi spokesperson Mara Hartmann says crews have been working 16-hour shifts for several days to repair damaged power lines, broken poles, and transformers. Hartmann says "That all takes time to repair. Under ideal circumstances, a crew can replace a broken pole in about three hours. The number of broken poles found in this storm so far could take crews more than 430 hours to replace."
The Department of Health reports dozens of water systems across the state are under boil water notices, including systems in Greenville, Natchez and Yazoo City.
