Sept 4 (Reuters) – The Mississippi city of Jackson said most of its water pressure had returned to normal on Sunday, a week after its main treatment plant failed, while U.S. officials warned it was still too early to tell when reliable drinking water supply can be restored. The state capital of 150,000 people in the Black state and about 30,000 people in surrounding communities have been without reliable drinking water since Monday, when complications from flooding knocked out the OB Curtis water plant. People have been told to boil any tap water before drinking, while state and federal authorities have declared a state of emergency, handing out bottled water in the meantime. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up On Sunday, water pressure exceeded the city’s target for the first time and many storage tanks around the city were full, the city said in a statement, while also warning that progress could fluctuate as further repairs and adjustments were made. “All of Jackson should now have pressure and most are now experiencing normal pressure,” the city said, while leaving the boil water advisory in effect. Meanwhile, Deanne Criswell, head of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told CNN on Sunday that it was “still too early to say” when the plant will be fully operational again and that FEMA’s focus was to ensure a supply of bottled drinking water. “It will happen in phases,” said Criswell, whose agency has been tasked by US President Joe Biden’s administration with coordinating relief efforts for Jackson. “As far as the long-term and medium-term of how long it’s going to take to actually make it safe to eat, I think we have a lot more to learn about what it’s going to take to get this plant up and running,” Criswell said. . The failure in Jackson highlighted the problem of America’s crumbling infrastructure. Signature legislation that Biden helped push through early in his presidency has earmarked millions of dollars for Mississippi and Jackson for water infrastructure. The crisis hit Jackson hard, forcing many stores and restaurants to close, while the public school system and Jackson State University had to move classes online. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba told ABC News that the city’s water infrastructure was broken due to wear and tear and climate change. He said the city could have water approved as safe to drink within days, not weeks, but securing a “reliable, viable” water treatment facility was “a much longer road ahead.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California and David Brunnstrom and Kanishka Singh in Washington. Edited by Andrea Ricci and Richard Chang Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
