Jackson’s Watershed Moment: From System Crisis to the Pursuit of Safe and Reliable Drinking Water

Jackson, Mississippi, residents have long endured years of water main breaks, boil water notices, and low to no water pressure. In August 2022, flooding caused the OB Curtis water treatment plant to shut down, creating a citywide crisis. Nearly, 150,000 residents and businesses were dependent on a system that was on the brink of catastrophic failure. A federal emergency response necessitated that the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice step in to secure the needed funding and assign a third-party interim manager (TPIM) to oversee the system and restore reliable service. Ted Henifin, P.E., was appointed as TPIM with the job to steer and stabilize the drinking water system—from emergency and chronic system improvements to planned system upgrades and sustainability for Jackson’s water utility for years to come. Due to the lack of available and reliable information, the engineering team promptly started working to digitize nearly 20,000 scanned atlas maps and plan drawings to create a distribution system GIS map. A parallel effort was also taken to create a system-wide hydraulic model which previously did not exist. The mapping and hydraulic model proved to be critical to understand system vulnerabilities and to inform prompt decision making, such as establishing priorities to sustain system operation, identification of the most critical distribution system elements for immediate repair/replacement, and implementation of long-term improvements. The hydraulic model and GIS system mapping also provided the team with vital information to understand how repairs and replacements could be implemented to improve the system resiliency, maintain operation, and not further damage the existing fragile system. Hundreds of pipeline leaks in Jackson’s system from 2″ up to 48″ required immediate action to stabilize the distribution system. Some of these emergency repairs led to additional pipeline leaks forming in other areas as pressures increased in the aging and deteriorated pipes. Such a dire situation required a comprehensive plan to restore Jackson’s entire drinking water system through a phased approach. Our paper will describe the process of mobilizing an emergency response team, development of an implementation plan, lessons learned, contractor and supply chain collaboration, integration of engineering and finance, planning, and sequencing of the work to address immediate critical needs while meeting the ultimate objective of providing the community of Jackson a safe and reliable drinking water system.