Jackson Jambalaya

I no longer live in Jackson, but, it so sad to read about.
It really seems like there is no way back. Some seem to take great joy in this. Others seem like wildabeast watching as the lions devour their buddy. Sucks for him. Violent and property crimes are sky rocketing. The schools, well for all practical purposes don’t function. As they add new sections to these pipes, more will blow. A large US city is on boil warnings? Roads - treacherous. And a giant city school educated work force Burdened by unreasonable wage floor caused by entitlements, that no new business can offer starting wages to better the welfare alternative. I’m guessing pensions are underfunded and bond’s cost are accruing at an unsustainable rate. It is high time for all the nonsense bickering and texecute a near term and long term emergency plan for the city and metropolitan area. There is no way to even do business in Jackson if hotels are under boil orders and your employees risk their life just driving through the city. Such a shame beautiful city with great people.

I'm not sure if people are taking great joy or if it's more like "told you so".

What are working parents of JPS supposed to do? Take another day off to watch their kids?

How do hotels and restaurants take such a risk locating in a city that can create serious problems for their patrons and ultimately their bottom line?

What about Luckytown brewery who uses Jackson water for the main ingredients of their product? I don't think it's feasible for them to truck in water to make beer.

I think part of the problem is where do you even start to fix the problem. I suppose the nice thing could be that sections of pipe could be replaced and roads fixed at the same time. I just don't know where the funding would come from. The city has not budgeted to properly maintain the system and they certainly haven't stashed enough away to fix the problem by starting over. If this was a house, it would be demolished and start over I'm afraid.

I commend the guys out fixing these leaks. I think they are doing the best job that they know how. The problem is years of mismanagement. Spending has been wasteful, bills aren't collected, money is not saved, repairs aren't made timely, assets are not managed. I keep hearing people talk about tax dollars, help from the federal government, help from the state government, etc. None of that should apply. Water and sewer infrastructure should be paid for from water and sewer rates. It should be like a stand-alone business. Tax dollars are used for things that don't generate their own revenue (roads for example). Jackson is so far gone on this that their only hope is for the federal government to step in and bail them out.

This problem didn't occur overnight. So it can't be fixed overnight. And you can screw something up about 20 times faster than you can fix it. So for Jackson to properly dig out of this mess without outside funding help would take at least 100 years of proper management. Seriously. So much debt, and so much repairs needed and it costs big money.

And for the record, I am in the water/sewer utility provider industry.

I read a comment from someone on the book of faces, and we all know how this goes, but it stated "Back in 80's every city comparable size to Jackson was installing C900 pipe for water lines. Jackson would only allow contractors to use cast iron pipe...cost more, heavier, harder to install, rusts out after abt 20 30 years but the head of Jackson water works had a son that sold cast iron pipe". Not sure the validity of it , but its something to look into.

7:31 and 8:14 are absolutely correct. I'll tell you where to start....today. Quit kicking the damn can down the road hoping that Santa brings you a new infrastructure. Take all the money in the budget being wasted on 'community improvement' crap and bus systems that lose money with 12 people using them and start replacing pipes one day at a time. It's absolutely inexcusable that water bills cant be done right. It's not high tech, we've been doing in this country for 80 years!
The problem is that roads and bridges and water pipes and sewer systems are not sexy to deal with, they're just the dull old crap that every city is SUPPOSED to deal with and maintain every day. City Government 101.

"Looks like Detroit, tastes like Flint". Welcome to Jackson Mississippi!

No 8:26, you are completely wrong on all accounts. Not every City has jumped to C900 PVC pipe. In some cases, it (iron pipe) is still more advantageous over other pipe materials. No one has used cast iron pipe since sometime in the 1970's. Ductile Iron pipe does not rust out after about 20 to 30 years. In fact, a lot of old cast iron pipe has been in use for over 100 years. And if iron pipe had a leg up on the competition don't you think all the big loop water mains around the area would be ductile iron pipe and not that Pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe that keeps breaking? That accusation of nepotism with a pipe salesman is lame. If you have names, spill it.

Sorry folks, too far gone and no leadership. Jackson is just dead and gone. There entire Metro Area will also suffer over time but there will be a few islands that may make it for a while. Leaving in Jackson will be much like Mississipi in the 1930s with a different set people is charge.

PCCP is good pipe IF it is installed correctly, but there is a lot that can go wrong if it isn't. Unfortunately Jackson seems to have had more than its share of problematic pipe.

Kinnnnnnngfish, why do you let nincompoops like 12:04 litter your blog with their illiterate ravings!? "Leaving" in Jackson. "'There' entire metro area, "...and "people is charge." Jesus fuckin' Christ, if they can't express themselves clearly and correctly, they don't deserve to pass your "not a robot" test. Do you allow their comments so the rest of us can laugh at them? If so, it stopped being funny a long time ago.

This past few weeks is just a warning about the future of Jackson.
Jackson is not going to find the money to fix the water problems laying in the water running down the street. People and businesses are moving out of Jackson so they cannot tax the people remaining enough to fix the water problems. Jackson cannot even stock pile pipe for the emergencies in the future as some of their outstanding citizens would steal it as fast as they can buy it.
It should have been enough of a warning when the hospitals decided to drill their own wells rather than depend on Jackson for water.