Ted Henifin now presides over both the drinking water and sewer systems in the capital city. The interim third-party manager responded to the new appointment over the weekend after U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate approved Henifin for the role on Saturday, saying that sewage in the streets is "unacceptable." The decision comes after a 30-day public comment period where residents shared their concerns with officials.
Henifin says years of neglect and a lack of organization have brought the sewer system to this point.
“Disinvestment, white and Black flight, have created, you know… a shrinking city,” he said. “They have a smaller tax base, smaller rate base and the investments just weren't made.”
The federal appointment of Henifin over Jackson's drinking water system has no explicit end date, though his on-site responsibilities in Jackson are required for at least a year. Henifin says the sewage operations will remain under his and his team's care for a four-year period.
“I expect that we can get the priority projects done and all of the dry weather overflows, which have plagued the system, done within that four-year time,” he said. “What won't happen and what most of this traditional enforcement around is on wet weather capacity to make sure that the system can handle any kind of rains and floods with minimal impact to the environment.”
Henifin says the progress that has been made to the water system will make this new appointment more doable.
“We are providing water daily, it's safe, it meets all drinking water standards, our pressure issues have been largely resolved just by opening lots and lots of valves and understanding more about the system,” he said. “We've got a tremendous amount of work still to do, but we're feeling we're in a good spot.”
Henifin's organization, JXN Water says that there are roughly 215 sewage overflow areas in the city.
