On Friday, the city of Jackson reversed what it said days earlier and said there is no lead in the water lines it had sampled.
A statement released by the city on Friday said, “On Sept. 28, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba announced at a news conference the discovery of 16 lead service lines. Upon further investigation, the 16 identified lines have been field-checked and are not lead.”
The statement went on to read, “We do not have any known lead service lines at this time. If any are discovered, we will take immediate action to notify the property owner or resident.”
Friday’s announcement did not align with his Sept. 28 announcement. Lumumba never said anything about lead service lines in his Sept. 28 press conference. Lumumba said that 16 locations in Jackson had been identified as having lead in the water. The city could not confirm if that presence of lead was in the service lines leading up to the meters or after the meters.
More: CL FINDS LEAD IN WATERClarion Ledger investigation for lead in Jackson water reveals broader issues. See results
More: LEAD IN WATERJackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba announces 16 locations with lead in water in Jackson
When asked at the press conference about the amount of lead in the water of the pipes pursuant to EPA standards, Lumumba said that any lead is too much lead.
In a combined effort between the Clarion Ledger and the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting performed before but published a day after the city’s announcement, water samples were collected from faucets at 17 locations throughout Jackson, including residences, businesses, schools and restaurants as well as the State Capitol Building. The Clarion Ledger commissioned and paid for testing independent of the city or state. Testing of those samples by Waypoint Analytical in Ridgeland showed low levels of lead in the water in seven of those locations.
The CL and MCIR testing showed 41% of Jackson sites tested contained some level of lead. A local university and a high school displayed the highest levels. Water samples from the Clarion Ledger as well as the State Capitol also tested positive for small amounts of lead.
The city has been dealing with several lawsuits already dealing with lead in the water, the latest, filed in the Southern District of Mississippi, is brought by Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, the Law Offices of Larry D. Moffett, Kershaw Talley Barlow and Gibbs Travis.
It is the first federal class-action lawsuit seeking injunctive relief and monetary damages against “various government and private engineering defendants over the neglect, mismanagement, and maintenance failures that led to an environmental catastrophe leaving more than 153,000 Jackson-area residents without access to safe running water.”
As described in the Complaint, the City of Jackson’s water supply has been neglected for decades, culminating in a complete shutdown in August 2022 that left more than 153,000 residents, nearly 82% of whom are Black, without access to running water. These residents lacked safe drinking water or water for making powdered baby formula, cooking, showering, or doing laundry.
In March, another challenge was filed on behalf of dozens of children in Mississippi against the City, Mississippi State Department of Health and other entities connected with the capital city’s ongoing water issues.
