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Jackson’s City Council is asking for more than $35 million in state American Rescue Plan Act money for eight projects in connection with water and infrastructure projects for the city.
The city authorized submitting a 50-50 matching grant application to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality for the Mississippi Municipality and County Water and Infrastructure grant program for matching project funds.
The request came during a special-called city council meeting Thursday afternoon.
“We are going to apply for a number of projects both at O.B. Curtis Water Plant, J.H. Fewell Water Plant as well as repairs to the west bank interceptor sewer main, repairs and reconstruction of sewer in and around Mill Street where the Mill Street pump has been. And general SSO (Sewer Stormwater Overflow) repairs,” said City Engineer Robert Lee.
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The city’s $35 million portion of the projects in the 50-50 matching MDEQ grant request, includes $4.2 million for SSO sewer repair and reconstruction, $1.65 million for O.B. Curtis raw water pump replacement, $1.45 million for O.B. Curtis and J.H. Fewell chemical feed automation, $2.75 million for Fewell general pump repair, $4.435 million for the Mill Street sewer basin reconstruction, $9.292 million for Curtis general filter rehab, repair and replacement, $7.5 million for West Bank interceptor rehab and $3.85 million for Fewell general filter, rehab, repair and replacement.
“We are under a non-disclosure agreement with the EPA. So, our numbers aren’t just out of the blue,” said Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba. “We just cannot disclose all of our numbers because of our non-disclosure agreement with the EPA.”
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Lee said some of these numbers could change slightly as more information is provided.
“Overall, we have been working with our partners both at federal level with the EPA as well as the Corps of Engineers and with state agencies like the department of health,” Lee said. “These current assessments are based on today as these assessments have changed (based on need) once a day for the last 10 days.”
Lee said the raw water pumps at O.B. Curtis and more importantly at Fewell are a weak point in the system and that some of the pumps at Fewell are “museum quality dated. They are old.”
Lumumba said that the requested money and subsequent repairs don’t get the city’s water system where it needs to be but it does push the process forward. He also noted this money does not address the weatherization of the city’s infrastructure.
“Most recently, we have been dealing with problems at the water treatment facility itself,” Lumumba said. “We need to change distribution lines across the city for multiple reasons. … This is a good start.”
Despite getting out from a city-wide boil water notice more than a week ago after Gov. Tate Reeves and the State of Mississippi got involved, there are still areas of Jackson that are having unexpected issues.
Most recently, dueto the loss in water pressure, a boil-water advisory has been issued for Golden Eagle Drive in Byram, which is part of the City of Jackson water system. There are also boil-water notices for Canyon Drive and Talon Drive in Jackson. These advisories impact approximately 40 connections.
This is a precautionary advisory. This notice does not mean that water is unsafe, but it does mean that customers should take precautions and boil water before use.
There has also been a boil-water lift for Honeysuckle Lane in Jackson, which had been instituted earlier this week.
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