Henifin says test results were "false positives."
The Mississippi State Department of Health issued the following notices.
Jackson
Effective Date: 1/11/2024
Public Water System: City of Jackson-JXN Water (0250008) Located in: Hinds County This affects 188723 customers who are served by the City of Jackson-JXN Water Supply located in Hinds County. Mississippi State Department of Health has issued a State Imposed Boil Water alert for customers who receive their drinking water from City of Jackson-JXN Water (0250008) located in Hinds County.Water sampling showed the presence of E. coli. bacteria.
Flowood
This affects 27997 customers who are served by the City of Flowood water supply located in Rankin County.
| Effective Date: | 1/11/2024 | ||||
| Public Water System: | City of Flowood (0610075) | Located in: Rankin County |
The city of Flowood issued the following statement.
On January 11th, the Mississippi Department of Health issued a mandatory, city-wide boil water notice for the City of Flowood - MAP BELOW. We received notice this afternoon that two of our routine monitoring samples came back from the Mississippi Department of Health testing lab positive for the bacteria E. Coli. All other samples came back normal and free of bacterial presence. We are investigating the cause of the results, as these results also had free chlorine residual, which is the treatment that keeps water safe and free of bacteria.
JXN Water issued the following statement at 5:15 PM:
JXN Water remains focused on providing Water for All, All the Time and stands on its compliance record for the past 12 months in consistently delivering safe drinking water to all customers. JXN Water is required to take regular monthly samples from the distribution system at 120 sampling locations throughout the city’s surface water system and test them for bacteria (total coliform and e-coli) to ensure the water is safe. Those samples are collected by JXN Water contractors and taken to the state lab for analysis. Yesterday, January 10th, JXN Water delivered samples to the state lab for analysis.
“We were informed today, just before noon, that two of the samples tested positive for e-coli. We were also informed that two samples from Flowood, also delivered to the state lab yesterday afternoon also tested positive. Having positive results from any system is unusual – having two positives from two different water systems seems highly suspect,’ said Ted Henifin, Interim Third Party Manager. “Laboratories are not perfect. Mistakes are made. Typically, laboratories have standard operating procedures to validate sample results – especially unusual and unexpected results - before taking action. We requested the state lab do that before taking any action on the results from yesterday’s samples. They chose not to do that and issued a city-wide boil water notice.”
“In cases where uncertainties arise, conducting additional testing emerges as the proper protocol. This proactive measure ensures the accuracy of results, enabling laboratories to take prompt and appropriate actions to safeguard public health. Importantly, this approach is designed to prevent unnecessary stress and concern within the community,” said Yvonne Mazza-Lappi, Jacobs Drinking Water Compliance Manager.
Today, JXN Water and Jacobs took additional confirmation samples in accordance with the Revised Total Coliform Rule.
Next, JXN Water will resample all 120 locations for two consecutive days to clear samples to get the state issued order lifted. JXN Water will continue issuing boil water notices and lifts as water main repairs line breaks, and emergency crew work continues throughout the city of Jackson. Notices are posted on JXNwater.com and issued through real-time alerts on NextDoor.
Mr. Henifin said JXN Water submitted a required 120 water samples to the Health Department for testing. Flowood submitted water samples as well. Two samples from each city tested positive for E Coli, thus generating the boil water notices.
The Water Receiver and his team took strong exception to the boil water notices. Mr. Henifin said MSDH should have retested the samples and checked for cross-contamination before issuing the boil water notices. He said it was highly unusual for two samples (four total) from each city to produce the positive results. He said they were in different cities, had different sources (surface and ground water), and were from different systems.
The Jackson samples came from Riverwood Drive and Sheffield Drive. Mr. Henifin said those would be the least likely areas for such results as they are closest to the water plants and thus have higher levels of chlorination. He said positive results would be more probable in the areas furthest from the water treatment plants. A Jacobs Solutions employee said there was more than enough chlorination in the system to ensure it did not have E.Coli.
Mr. Henifin made no bones about what he thought of the test results as he called them "false positives." He said the "false positives" destroyed the trust citizens had in Jackson's water system his team had worked hard over the last year to rebuild. He said it was a devastating blow to Jackson restaurants that were just recovering from the "PTSD" they suffered during the numerous water crises over the past few years.
As he lamented the "false positives", Mr. Henifin urged citizens to follow the boil water notices and said his team would work with the Health Department to get the boil water notice lifted.
27 comments:
E. Coli = poo poo
Poop in their water. Nothing new.
I believe this includes all of Flowood as well.
Boy, And right before a record hard freeze on Monday and Tuesday. You know that lines are going to freeze for sure. I’m so glad I don’t live in jackson and got rid of my commercial property there. I took a heavy loss but that’s life my friends. I’m out of there and none of my money goes toward that Marxist village of idiots.
Flowood too.
Booboo. Raw booboo.
Seems weird that both Flowood and Jackson would be affected. Those would be two separate treatment plants, etc. right?
This is a mandatory boil water notice (not precautionary). It means they found e-coli in a water sample.
That could mean there is e-coli in the water. Or it could simply mean the water is fine and a sample got tainted. My utility had a system wide boil water notice once before. We had 60 samples, 59 of which passed and had good chlorine residuals. One sample failed. There was no doubt that the water was safe and somehow the one sample got tainted. This can happen easily such as a drop of sweat falls in the jar, sample was taken on a windy day, someone touches their dirty finger on the rim of the lid, etc. I think that is why Mayor Rhodes is disputing it.
I would bet that the water is actually fine and the person that took the sample accidentally tainted it, or the MSDH lab personnel accidentally tainted it.
Flowood is well water from the ground. Jackson has service water the reservoir then to OB Curtis treatment plant. 2 totally different processes and utility system. LAB messed this one up!!!
Both cities dispute the findings but have no choice but to advise citizens to follow.
As sited above, "different cities, had different sources (surface and ground water), and were from different systems."
Has to be within MSDH!
From WLBT:
JXN Water spokeswoman Ameerah Palacios:
“Based [on] the details of the sampling that they did, there are a lot of discrepancies and very troubling things we saw in their sampling...We believe that the current Department of Health is acting as a rogue element that’s not in scope with industry best practices...To ask 188,000 people to boil their water and not do a retest to make sure that that’s absolutely necessary is very irresponsible.”
Flowood Mayor Gary Rhoads also questions the results, but said the city was going to abide by the mandate until the state says the water is OK.
“When the chemicals are in the water and proven [to be] there, I don’t know how E. coli. can grow,” he said. “Our water has always been some of the best around.”
The lab tech didn't wash hands after doing #2.
The lab found ecoli on their hands, but being hygiene minded, dutifully scrubbed their hands in the samples and subsequently tested those samples.
I'll abide by the boil water notice BUT I'm behind Henifin. Agree somebody screwed up the testing.
I won't worry about this until I hear retests have confirmed the presence of e-coli.
Sabotage??
If they can sabotage hydrants to make Hennefin look bad, they can also contaminate the water. Throw in Flowood water as a red herring. Right?
The map only shows the city limits for Flowood. Not the entire area where water service is provided by the City of Flowood. Quite a large area of northwestern Rankin County that is east of Hwy 471 is provided water by Flowood.
7:21. Are you sure Flowood serves east of 471? I thought that area was still Langford Water Association. West side of 471 I would agree with you. Also Castlewoods and Northwood and Belgrove were separate systems I thought. Both owned by Flowood.
This is the government, guise, best in the business. They, pardon the pun, know their shit. You don’t get a job in government without being top of the heap in your field of discipline. If the government says it’s coli, that settles it and I believe them. You have to be the best before you get a government job.
Please, EVERYBODY, stop mentioning television stations as somehow 'expert' sources.
Television stations parrot what they read, hear and see other sources parroting. There is no such thing as independent investigative reporting.
it is really strange the these 2 sperate water system have the same problem.
Henifin is tarting to sound a lot like the local politicos. It seems like everyone who gets near them gets corrupted by bullshit.
8:09 PM, this is 7:21, you are correct. Flowood serves west of 471.
Antar will be delighted.
@9:51 AM: No, Henifin does not sound like politicos. He's done a fine job and has handled more junk than he should have had to. But nice try.
9:51, I’m thinking you mean well but are a little late to the game. First, allow me to attach a name to the otherwise vague and overly broad term “local politicos.” Antar Chokwe Lumumba. That should be fair enough. Second, let me invite you to actually watch and listen to what Mr. Lumumba had to say about the impending water crisis for the 12 months prior to the system’s collapse, 6-8 months if you tend towards lazy and would prefer the Jackson Water Crisis for Dumbies version. Next, I’d suggest that you submerge yourself in the hundreds of thousands of pages of official documents that, for the most part, don’t lie; something tells me you’ll take a hard pass.
Finally, let me stop beating around the bush. Ted Henifin is a bonafide expert in municipal water treatment systems with a civil engineering degree from the University of Virginia and 30+ years experience in the field. Mr. Chokwe Antar is not, never was, never will be, any of those things. He’s a politician, which makes it even worse yet that he never gave enough of a rat’s ass to so much as seek the company of someone who would fit that bill — beyond mere pretense — as evidenced by the complete disintegration of anything remotely resembling Pubic Works and capped by the farcical episode “How Can I Quit You Three Times In One Month?”
TED HENIFIN. chokwe antar lumumba. BIG DIFFERENCE. HUGE.
E Coli is Jackson’s favorite bacteria
Where are the posts about how Jackson water is skyrocketing in prices
Post a Comment