Henifin now in charge of fixing Jackson sewer system. See how many sewage overflows city has

Ted Henifin, the federally appointed third-party administrator, is now in charge of fixing Jackson's ailing sewer system.

U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate signed off on the order approving Henifin on Saturday. The approval comes after Wingate's court held a 30-day public comment period for residents to give their input. According to a news release by JXN Water, the company in charge of the city's water and now sewer system,  "95 percent of comments" were in favor of Henifin.

The stipulated order placing JXN Water in charge of the sewer system will be for at least four years. It has been previously mentioned that once Henifin's work is finished there will be a conversation between all parties to decide who will be in charge of the sewer system in the future.

Across the city, JXN Water has reported 215 raw sewage overflows. Henifin will now be overseeing the fixing of these. Raw sewage overflows occur when there is "a break in a sewage pipe allowing the sewage to pressurize and come up above ground," Henifin said in a Youtube video released last month that shows an overflow occurring on Jefferson Street and Boyd Street.

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The city's sewer system has been under a consent decree from the court since March 1, 2013. The consent decree was signed off by the plaintiffs — the Environmental Protection Agency, the Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality — and the defendant, the City of Jackson. But little to no progress has been made since then, resulting in the city's sewer system further deteriorating.

According to the order, between March 2020 and February 2022, the city reported 460 sanitary sewer overflows that released over 110 million gallons of untreated wastewater. The West Bank Interceptor, which runs along the bank of the Pearl River, had 13 sanitary sewer overflows and released more than 95 million gallons of untreated wastewater. Twenty-seven prohibited bypasses from the Savanna Street plant were also reported, allowing over 4.4 billion gallons of untreated or under-treated wastewater to discharge into the Pearl River.

The Pearl River poses health risks to those who come in contact with it, according to the MDEQ.

JXN Water to only collect water bills from December 2022 forward

JXN Water announced on Monday that customers will only see charges on their water bills from December 2022 forward, according to Carla Dazet, a JXN Water contractor and former deputy director in the city's public works department.

"What he (Henifin) decided to do was only bring forward balances on customers accounts that were from December 2022 forward. With that date is the date that his responsibility took over, and what we've done with the old balances is we've moved them to another ledger. They're still there," Dazet said. "We can still retrieve them, and the city can have access to those old account receivables. But what it's doing is the customers are going to start to see a balance from just December 2022 going forward."

The reason for the decision, Dazet said, was that Henifin "wasn't sure how he was going to collect old balances on meters that had experienced problems during the past, and he knows we've got a new system in place and that's a reliable system, so he feels comfortable doing that.

"So what we're doing is we're just focusing on that debt that's incurred since December 2022."

This will be a significant impact on customers who may have not paid their water bills in some time. Residents have complained in the past to Henifin that they think their water bill is too high and aren't accurate portrayal of how much water they've used.

The city can still collect previous charges before December 2022 "if they want it," Dazet said, but JXN Water has not currently talked with the city about this.

Dazet also announced that the water and sewer revenue lockbox has been moved into Jackson. This will allow payments to be processed quicker, Dazet said.

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In other JXN Water news, city residents have started receiving letters that shutoffs will begin for those not paying their water bills this fall. Ameerah Palacios, JXN Water's spokesperson, said no accounts have been turned off and could not give an estimated date of when they would start.

JXN Water is focused on educating residents on why paying water bills is important. For a water utility to properly function, customers need to pay their bill to "run the system, make needed repairs and replace things before they break," the letter states.

“No customers have been turned off yet. It’s important we give the community time to prepare for turnoffs resuming later this year,” Henifin said in a news release. “It’s time for customers to get current on their water bill.”

Previously, Henifin estimated there were between 5,000 to 7,000 properties in Jackson who do not have accounts set up with JXN Water but are still receiving water. The current collection rate for water and sewer bills is 56%, Henifin said, which earns the city $30-40 million each year in local revenue. That needs to almost double to $60-70 million, Henifin said.

Customers can call JXN Water's 24-hour customer service line at 601-500-5200 to request and start a payment plan that can stretch the balance of a bill over several months

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ted Henifin is officially in charge of fixing Jackson's sewer system