FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2022
(Jackson, Miss.) – This week four emergency contracts expired which included the support of a handful of remarkable out-of-state teams brought into the City of Jackson by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) to help stabilize and make repairs to O.B. Curtis and J.H. Fewell water treatment plants. These out-of-state teams consisted of dozens of notable professionals across multiple states brought into the Capital City under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The City of Jackson in conjunction with the Mayor’s Office extends our sincere gratitude to the relentless and hardworking individuals who made up those out-of-state teams. We recognize the individual and collective work that goes into shaping collaborative solutions that address the immediate, short-term and long-term needs of over 150,000 residents. We are deeply moved by the countless hours, exceptional expertise and time spent away from home to ensure that all Jackson ratepayers have access to clean, reliable and safe drinking water – a natural resource often overlooked but needed to sustain everyday life. Our current water systems are better because of you. Your contributions are not unnoticed.
We would like to thank the States of Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio and South Carolina for extending a strong arm of support through their rural water associations and departments of health. We sincerely appreciate the innovative work of technicians, maintenance workers, supplemental staff and other personnel who displayed exemplary patriotism over the last few months. Jackson is forever grateful for your contributions to improving water infrastructure and implementing real-time solutions in the capital city, and we celebrate a sustainable and resilient future because of you.
“We are also grateful to the Environmental Protection Agency, FEMA, US Army Corps of Engineers, State of Mississippi, including MEMA, MSDH, and the Mississippi Rural Water Association for providing continued support and resources to aid the City of Jackson during the water crisis,” said Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba. “There is still much work left to upgrade and modernize Jackson’s water infrastructure, but because of the commitment of our partners, Jackson’s water treatment plants will continue to be fully staffed through private contractors until a longer-term operation, maintenance and management solution is in place in mid-November. Through collaboration, we are making forward progress.”