Jackson Mayor John Horhn issued the following statement.
October 20, the first major water leak repair was completed at the Jackson Zoo.
Mayor Horhn commented, “this is what the citizens of Jackson hired us to do. We will meet problems head on and provide solutions. The Zoo is just one example of where we are dealing with issues that are long overdue. Spending $7,400 to save a million dollars is a pretty good return in my book.”
Steve Hutton with Parks and Recreation said, “The first major leak has now been repaired. It was a very simple fix costing $7,449.62 to repair. Why this leak has been allowed to drag on for years is mind boggling. If we had 120,000 gallons a day squirting up in our yard at home, I think we would move mountains to stop the leak.”
Wicker Construction found a 2” water line connecting to a 6” water line. The 2” line was broken at the connection point, resulting in a very significant leak.
According to JXN Water, once the leak was repaired, meter #21082562 showed a reduction in water flow by 16,000 cu feet per day, equating to 120,000 gallons per day, which equals 44 million gallons per year, totaling about $900,000.
Hutton added, “When we cut off the water source that was keeping the chimpanzee moat full, we were told by JXN Water that our water usage was reduced by around 18,000 gallons per day, 6.5 million gallons per year, about $80,000 per year. Between shutting off the chimpanzee moat and fixing this leak, it appears we have instantly saved the city $980,000 per year. And we have several more leaks we are fixing.”
Wicker Construction has now moved to the parking lot area where two leaks have been bubbling for many years under the asphalt. “This repair will be a little more time consuming and involved as it requires the removal and replacement of asphalt,” said CAO Pieter Teeuwissen. “There are three additional leaks near the two parking lot leaks that will also be addressed. Afterward, Wicker will move to the Rhino exhibit and begin repair of a significant valve leak.”
31 comments:
Fixing broken things. It's so crazy it just might work.
Is it saving the City money when they haven't paid a water bill for the Zoo in years?
Makes you realize Lumumba didn’t do anything.
They should give Jxn Water credit for
finding the leak at the exhibit.
Jackson Zoological Society notified the city of the leaks in 2017 and kept notifying the city. Just like Thalia Mara Hall, the Lumumbas completely ignored the problem and did nothing to fix it. They figured since they owned the zoo and water, they could just cancel the amount owed. Of course, the leak still existed.
I hope they have their bill down to zero.
The bill is PAID. JXN Water withheld the garbage collection fees to settle the debt.
Buncha racist plumbers out there fixing leaks
When Henifin took over one of the first orders of business was mapping the locations of the valves throughout the city. The valve locations were known only to various public works employees past and present. JXN water then turned the all valves on. That created a handful of leaks, but once addressed it stabilized pressure throughout the city.
I'm glad it's paid. Now they want go over 60 days.
I heard that Judge Wingate had to ok if
he could keep the fees.
4:12. Stabilized? Then why is the Byram Industrial Park tank (1MG) still offline as well as Suncrest???
KF, as you well know, JxnWater taking from Richard's to pay the CoJ's MonkeyMoat bill leaves Richard's unpaid. Essentially, the CoJ is still $6.5M in arrears for Ted Hennifin's (justifiable) swap.
The City recently received $40 million from a bond sale. It should pay its past due bills.
Sounds like book-keeping needs an independent audit…
Antard couldn't do anything because he was grossly incompetent.
Mayor, CLOSE the zoo! CLOSE IT!
Let’s be honest Jackson is beyond fixing
3:28 Hell I realized lumumba didn’t do anything when he opened his mouth
7:42pm
"Jxn beyond fixing"
I just want my neighborhood in NE Jxn to secede from the rest, perhaps others nearby can as well. No amount of festivity or a new mayor blowing his Horhn can make me go downtown.
"The bill is PAID. JXN Water withheld the garbage collection fees to settle the debt."
Speaking of which - What's the current status of any garbage collection contract? Is it still an emergency contract? Is Antard still receiving the kickback? Is Rukia still marketing the 96 gallon cans? Does Chockie still put his household garbage in the city hall dumpster?
You people cut the prior mayor some slack, please. He had signed up with two professional genealogy sites - scouring historical records to see if he could find relatives to contract all this work to. He was in the middle of that when Hohrn rode in on a white horse!
Jackson also has had a city council during every mayor's administration. I really think everyone has ignored how little maintenance was done at the zoo or on the infrastructure for decades including the '50's and 60's. I was surprised the building codes were so weak and at the people throwing trash into the reservoir and creeks. The littering at the zoo and museum grounds was appalling. White trash is mighty trashy and more likely to talk trash as well!
City council holds the money in the city.
Man, that $7,449 is just crumbs to fix the zoo's water bill. Closing it down for good would save real money. People aren't coming because of the third-world conditions in the hood just to get there. Fix the ghetto first, then revenue might come for new animals and the old glory days. The city's throwing band-aids at it when common sense says shut it down—like buying a $60k bass boat while the family's on food stamps. Straight foolish.
Why are we wasting money on a zoo that no one visits, that makes those poor animals live in squalor. GIVE them away to a decent zoo somewhere else that not only is visited, but treats animals humanely?
The ZOO is a dump and JAN is a dump.
October 29, 2025 at 8:03 AM
>White trash is mighty trashy and more likely to talk trash as well!
I mean isn't that why they're called white trash?
When I do an image search for Wicker Construction employees, I see mostly white people. Is that why they weren't doing this work prior to the creation of JXN Water?
@10:51
Because incompetency was required back then-
6:53 - Garbage collection is just fine. Twice a week on Monday and Thursday just like clockwork.
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