Residents have been urged not to drink the water until the facility is repaired.

On the heels of severe flooding that has battered the city for several days now, the residents of Jackson, Mississippi have encountered a new, equally severe problem. Due to a combination of damage from the floods and existing system weaknesses, Jackson’s main water treatment facility has suffered a near-total failure, resulting in no clean water being produced. Not only does this mean there is no water pressure to flush toilets or extinguish fires, but the water coming out of local taps has been deemed unsafe for consumption or usage, even for something like brushing teeth.

“Please stay safe. Do not drink the water. In too many cases, it is raw water from the reservoir being pushed through the pipes,” Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves told Jackson residents. “Be smart, protect yourself, protect your family.”

Tate is planning to officially declare a state of emergency later today as local authorities begin efforts to distribute safe drinking and utility water to the city’s 180,000 residents. The National Guard is expected to be tapped to aid in these efforts.

Work is already underway to diagnose and repair the water treatment facility, but it is uncertain how long it will be before it is running properly again. “Replacing our largest city’s infrastructure of running water with human distribution is a massively complicated logistical task,” Reeves said. “We need to provide it for up to 180,000 people for an unknown period of time.”

Unfortunately, Jackson’s water treatment system has garnered a reputation for failure, with one of its most recent examples being in February of 2021 when a winter storm disabled the treatment system.