Boil water notice issued in Jackson after 12,000 customers affected
JXN Water announced "significant pipe breaks" overnight into Thursday morning due to the thawing of the frozen ground after temperatures plummeted to 10 degrees Wednesday morning. About 12,000 customers have been affected and boil-water notices have been issued for the parts of the city affected.
Leaders said the extended deep freeze and record low temperatures were a challenge.
JXN Water also blamed increased usage on a "deliberate misinformation" social media campaign that had urged people to fill bathtubs and jugs.
Jackson Public Schools went virtual again on Thursday due to low water pressure and heating issues.
“By late yesterday afternoon the water demand had risen to 70 million gallons per day, 40 percent more than a typical day. The high demand appears to have been a combination of pipe breaks in the Jackson Water system and leaks from private plumbing systems throughout the service area,” JXN Water Interim Third Party Manager Ted Henifin, said in a release.
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"JXN Water began seeing isolated pressure issues last night. The issues became more widespread overnight as the result of what JXN Water believes was a deliberate misinformation campaign on social media that claimed JXN Water was going to shut the water plants off at some point late last night and encouraged people to prepare by filling bathtubs and jugs. People acted on that social media post by filling their tubs. This caused demand to spike up beyond a level JXN Water could support given the significant demand during the day yesterday."
JXN Water said the water treatment plants operated continuously through the night yet have not been able to recover the water lost yesterday. As a result, many customers are waking up to low pressure and/or no water.
The release stated JXN Water is working to define which areas of the city should be placed under a precautionary boil water notice.
"Those notices will be issued for any area where the system pressure went below 20 psi. At this point, customers with very low water pressure or no water, should assume they need to boil their water before drinking it until further notice," the release stated.
“JXN Water is working hard to restore service to everyone, but it may take up to a day or two to get the system back to pre-storm conditions. We need everyone to help by minimizing water use for the next 24 hours (for those that have water and those that get it back in the coming hours) until we can get water to everyone,” Henifin said. "Since the call center is aware of this issue, customers should also take caution to not overwhelm customer service with frequent calling about no water or low pressure. Leak reports are still being taken."
These Jackson zip codes under boil water notice
JXN Water later announced that the previously known low pressure/no water is impacting approximately 12,000 customers of the Jackson system in the following zip codes:
39209 - West Jackson along the 49 corridor
39204 - West/Central Jackson along 49 corridor to Pearl River and south on east side of 55 between 55 and the Pearl River
39212 - South Jackson
39272 - South Jackson
39170 - South Jackson
"Precautionary boil water notices have been issued for these areas and will remain in effect until lifted by JXN Water," a release stated.
JXN Water also asked residents to avoid calling the system.
"Please do not call the call center to report low pressure or for billing issues. The call center is currently experiencing high call volumes. Please leave lines open for customers reporting active water leaks. This will assist us with restoring pressure as quickly as possible," the release stated.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson water: Pipe breaks. Boil water notice issued
