Jackson suffered yet another water crisis last November when part of O.B. Curtis was forced to shut down due to the delivery of "a bad batch of chemicals." However, Mississippi State Department of Health emails state the shutdown took place because equipment was not replaced when it failed and the back-up had no back-up.
Jackson announced in a November 15, 2021 press release:Workers are currently working to the get the system back online after it is believed a bad batch of chemicals used to improve water quality was administered Saturday night. This forced the City to shut down the conventional side of the plant and empty the basins.
The City’s other treatment facility, J.H. Fewell, has been helping to maintain water pressure to stay above the boil water threshold. However, the City has not been able to provide the adequate pressure of about 90 psi and pressure at the plant was nearing a 65 psi threshold by Monday afternoon. Once it falls below that level, the City is required to issue a precautionary boil water notice.
ACH (aluminum chlorohydrate) chemicals were delivered to the plant on the weekend of November 15. The chemicals were injected into the system but several hours later, an experienced water operator noticed the ACH chemicals were not coagulating the solids in the water. City Engineer Dr. Charles Williams said at a November 16, 2021 press conference:
Late Saturday and early Sunday we started having chemical feed issues with our aluminum chlorohydrate process. As a result we had to shut the conventional side down and only were able to provide water to the city using J.H. Fewell and the membrane side.
Dr. Williams said Jackson had to issue a city-wide boil water notice since the shutdown caused the system's water pressure to drop to 65 PSI. 10-15,000 customers lost water service. He said the city couldn't predict the shutdown would happen "due to the bad batch of ACH." (7:20)
Water Service was restored by November 17.
However, there is a "REST of the story" to this story. JJ obtained emails from the Mississippi State Department of Health that state the "bad batch of chemicals" should not have shut down the conventional side of O.B. Curtis.
Jackson Public Works Deputy Director of Water Operations Mary Carter stated in an email to MSDH on November 15:
The Conventional treatment process at OBC was lost Saturday night due to a bad batch of ACH and we have been working to get it back online since then. It has not been restored as of this morning. The pressure in the City is near the 65 psi threshold when a City wide BWN will have to be issued.
The Health Department inspected the water treatment plant later that day and discovered the water system's problems were not due to just "a bad batch of chemicals." MSDH Engineer Amy McLeod reported to her agency the bad batch did indeed cause problems:
I met with the operator on shift, Robert Loftin. As Mary stated below, the current problem is related to the ACH. Mr. Loftin told me that their expected truck on Friday was not delivered. The delivery on Saturday is believed to be a bad batch. They have 3 bulk tanks that run in parallel. Normally between those 3 tanks, they can hold about 10 trucks full of product. One bad truck mixed in with 10 would not cause a problem for them. But between a recent leak on the ACH feed line and the tank level indicators not working (and the exterior sight tube valved off), Mr. Loftin thinks there was likely only about 2-3 trucks worth of chemical. Mr. Loftin thinks it could be either a bad batch or the tank levels got so low that they were drawing in sludge/trash from the bottoms of the tanks. What got their attention first was the color of the delivered product. It is very cloudy compared to the clear batch they received at the end of the month. While the specific gravity and pH are in range, when used in a jar test the turbidity was double the turbidity achieved with the earlier batch. Mr. Loftin has no idea when the next delivery of ACH will get to the plant.However, the chemicals were not the only problem. The email continued:
Secondary to the product issues, they have lost the ability to feed the chemical to the injection point. No chemical, no floc* being formed, basin turbidities are high, lost process. Mr. Loftin feels confident he can make floc with the newest batch if he can get it injected. While I was there, the maintenance supervisor, Richard Harper, was working on running a rubber hose through the piping trench to the injection point. Mr. Loftin said they had a second pump they could run in manual to get the ACH injected into the water. Mr. Loftin planned to dump as much water out of the basins as possible and start over.
The line that fed the chemicals to the injection point was clogged and thus out of operation. That line is supposed to have a back-up line in case such an even happens. Guess what? That was the back-up line. One nagging problem at Jackson water treatment plants is the non-replacement of primary parts when back-up parts are used. Ms. Carter told Ms. Mcleod in a November 16 email:
Maintenance discovered that the ACH line that was in-service was actually the backup from 6 or 7 years ago. It was, however, clogged. They are working to replace the original line so that there will be redundancy if the line clogs in the future.
Fortunately, Jackson received a shipment of the proper chemicals later that day. The emails between MSDH employees and the city of Jackson are posted below.
Kingfish note: Jackson did indeed receive a "bad batch of ACH chemicals." However, the bad batch should not have shut down part of the water system as it did. It turns out, the bad batch could not have shut it down without a great deal of help in the form of neglect. Yet again, the failure to maintain and replace equipment crippled the Jackson water system.
Posted below is the video of Dr. Williams' press conference about the water plant problems on November 16, 2021.
* The ACH chemicals cause the solids in the water to coagulate or clump into "floc." The floc sinks to the bottom of the water basin. This is the process that makes the water clear. Cloudy water indicates the solids are not coagulating and thus still in the water.
22 comments:
"Bad batch of chemicals" Yep, there's a lot of that going around the country. It's like a chemical pandemic. It could also be a "perception," or caused by open-carry, or gun shows, or white flight, or it's a "vast right wing conspiracy," right? Right?
All I want to know is what kind of racism keeps causing the water problems in Jackson
How many times does someone lie before we conclude that person is a liar?
So in closing your honor, the City of Jackson PWD knowing over years ignored or were told to ignore obvious issues that would make city water nasty as hell !!
Deflection and misdirection everyday, all the time in Lumumba's Potemkin village. He's simply dishonest.
KF, I think you need to compile all of the incompetency truths in one document and send to the NYT to make them correct their BS stories about it being a racial issue like they like to portray every southern city ran by idiots. Hold them accountable for their sensational lies they try to paint.
A glass of warm, murky Pearl River water goes down easier with less harm than swallowing the boy mayor's water department blame evasion stories.
Can I just have my own well like rural properties in my backyard and get off of the City's water?
I can guarantee that if Jackson was provided with a “batch of bad chemicals”, the let’s sue everybody “leadership?” Would sue everyone involved from the salesman, all the way to the manufacturer and everyone reading this blog knows that.
The only was to cope with Jackson is to get as faraway as possible.
Who cares? Water should be free anyway. God’s property. Fuck is you charging for water? And to all the geniuses who claim we pay to have it pumped into our homes. Um, you’re paying for WATER, not pipes and pumps. Better yet, how much do the pipes and pumps cost?
I believe that many of the necessary parts are not being delivered due to non payment.
@2:09 PM
You know, I was thinking you could run a garden hose from the Pearl River up Highway 80 all the way to your front door. Then, whenever you need water, you could suck the water into your home like people do when they’re stealing gas from another vehicle.
Better yet, paint the hose the same color as your street pavement to camouflage the hose.
To be clear: Is it being suggested that the Jackson Mayor either lied or authorized someone else to lie?
I'm just wanting to be fair.
@3:29 PM - You may be onto something.
“You may be.”
You’re not sure though. Come back when you’re 100% sure. Come back with some substance, facts, chicken grease.
We don’t deal in “may be.”
So how many of you that live in Jackson actually drink the water? Or use it in cooking?
@ 3:29PM- so the City of Jackson suppliers aren't interested in financing the Jackson - Kush Plan carrying the city's Accounts Receivable? Who would have ever guessed that would happen?
5:02 I do cook with it, but use bottled water for drinking and making coffee. Even my pets get bottled water.
Why does nobody ever get fired? Do y’all think other water and sewer providers in the area would tolerate such incompetence? Why is that? Why does Jackson keep hitching its wagon to the same incompetent and lazy people? But the voters tolerate it and elect the same clowns. Then the mayor and city council (the aforesaid clowns) tolerate it and keep the same employees on the payroll and in charge. At what point will everyone decide to change the dirty diaper?
5:02 just flush with it... that all
KF, did you ask why no replacement?
Please, do some context on why things happen when they do.
Do you really believe those working at the water plant wouldn't rather have a system that's working well all the time?
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