US Congress asks for information about water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi

Two U.S. congressional committees on Monday asked for information about the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, earlier this year.

Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Bennie Thompson, chairman of the chamber's Committee on Homeland Security, made the request in a letter to Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves.

Torrential rain in the Jackson area caused floodwater to seep into the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant in late August, leading to the failure of the backup pumps upon which the plant relied.

The resulting system-wide loss of water pressure left Jackson residents without reliable access to safe drinking water for more than two weeks. Approximately 180,000 people living in the affected area were forced to rely on bottled water.

Maloney and Thompson wrote in the letter that Jackson, "the majority of whose residents are Black, has also suffered decades of disinvestment."

"The Jackson water crisis was a disaster waiting to happen, and it will not be resolved unless we address generational disinvestment in majority-Black cities," they noted.

The House committees requested Reeves provide them with information related to Mississippi's efforts to address the water crisis in Jackson and improve drinking water infrastructure, including but not limited to the distribution of federal funds, by the end of this month.

Reeves hasn't responded to the letter but posted on Monday the state's plans to address staffing challenges at Jackson's water treatment plants.